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http://www.archive.org/details/noraehebraicaeet01 lighuoft
HOR 4
HEBRAICH ET TALMUDICHA:
HEBREW AND TALMUDICAL EXERCITATIONS
THE GOSPELS, THE ACTS,
ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS,
PE EIST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS:
BY
JOIN LIGHTFOOT ΤΣ
MASTER OF CATHARINE HALL, CAMBRIDGE.
A NEW EDITION,
BY
THE REV. ROBERT GANDELL, M.A,,
ASSISTANT TUTOR OF MAGDALEN HALL,
LATE MICHEL FELLOW OF QUEEN’S COLLEGE, OXFORD.
IN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
OXFORD:
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
M.DCCC.LIX.
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a Gna
ae ee ee TTS! ay ὍΝ
ti nie”
τῇ ἥ owen Φ
ae
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ΓΝ FAM χά
ΣΉ see ae εὶς
ὉΠ
feet AAG Ὁ bhetialt VE
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eee EP hiG. οὔτ ta eee
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“ἃ " ᾿ ὶ ton - ΓῚ
2°) FEO Pt)
Licutroots Hore Hebraice et Talmudice were
originally written in Latin, and the several portions
were published at intervals between 1658 and 1674.
With the exception of those on the Acts and Romans,
they appeared during his lifetime*. These last were
printed after his death by Richard Kidder, after-
wards bishop of Bath and Wells.
They were reprinted on the Continent by Carpzov,
(Lips. 1675,) and in the Editions of his collected
works by Texelius, (fol. Rotterdam, 1686,) and by
Leusden, (fol. Franequer. 1699.)
They appeared for the first time in English in
1684, when Lightfoot’s entire works came out in
two volumes, folio (London); the first volume, “ re-
vised and corrected by George Bright, D. D.,” the
second “ published by the care and industry of John
Strype, M. A.”
It is not known by whom the translation was
made. Strype in his Preface mentions “ the trans-
a A detailed bibliographical account of Lightfoot’s works will be
found in the first volume of Pitman’s edition.
εἶ
lv
lators,” but as at the same time he speaks of “ our
pains,” he seems to have had some share in it. The
translation on the whole is carefully done, and de-
serves the praise he bestows upon it.
This most valuable portion of Lightfoot’s writings
was included in the new edition of his works
(13 vols., 8vo. London, 1822-5), superintended by
the Rev. John Rogers Pitman, M.A. That edition
has now become scarce and expensive; and besides,
contains much matter less interesting to modern
readers. It seemed therefore desirable that the
Hore Hebraice should be rendered accessible to
theological students by being published alone.
The present edition has been printed from Mr.
Pitman’s ; but wherever a passage seemed obscure,
not only the folio edition, but the original Latin
also has been consulted. Thus the text has been
carefully revised throughout, and alterations made
in many places. Upon the Hebrew quotations much
attention has been bestowed. Very many correc-
tions were required here, and though from the simi-
larity of some Hebrew letters, and other causes, the
Editor can hardly hope that he has overlooked no
errors, yet he can say that he has spared no pains
to secure accuracy.
For the more convenient distribution of the work,
the Geographical matter, which the Author prefixed
to each Gospel, has in this edition been brought
together in one volume.
Lightfoot’s references have generally been found
V
to be very carefully made. Where they were imper-
fect, what was wanting has been supplied, and the
additions indicated by brackets.
Notes have occasionally been added, where the
text seemed to require explanation. And the
Reader has often been referred, for further infor-
mation, to that great storehouse of Rabbinical
learning —the result of thirty years’ assiduous
labour — Buxtorf’s Talmudical and Rabbinical
Lexicon.
May these works of Lightfoot, written under
many disadvantages, the fruit of untiring industry,
and deep veneration for Holy Scripture, encourage
and aid those who by devout and patient study
endeavour to understand the words of our Divine
Master, and the inspired writings of His Evangelists
and Apostles!
R. G.
OXxForD,
April 1, 1859.
b The references to Hudson’s edition of Josephus were made by
Pitman.
Α
CHOROGRAPHICAL CENTURY:
SEARCHING OUT,
CHIEFLY BY THE LIGHT OF THE TALMUD,
SOME
MORE MEMORABLE PLACES
OF THE
LAND OF ISRAEL;
THOSE ESPECIALLY, WHEREOF MENTION IS MADE IN THE
GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW.
LIGHTFOOT, VOL, I. B
(.
THE PREFACE.
AMONG all those, who have either published their own cho-
rographical tables of the land of Canaan, or have corrected
others,—you can hardly find any, that have consulted with
the writers of the Talmud in this matter: whereas, certainly,
their consent is by no means in this case to be despised, if,
indeed, it be not rather especially to be regarded.
For, besides that they, above all other men, do most
curiously inquire of the affairs and of the places of that land,
—all the doctors of the Misna, and the Gemarists also of
Jerusalem, were inhabitants and dwellers there: and not a
few also of those of Babylon well viewed it; eyewitnesses ;
and who (any reader being judge) could not but have, beyond
all others, a most familiar knowledge of that land, dwelling
in it: and not only so, but being such as thought themselves
bound, by a religious necessity, to inquire after the situation
and nature of the places in that land, and to trace them
out with an exact search and curiosity.
Let reason, therefore, determine, whether they, above all
others, are, either justly or prudently, cast aside in the busi-
ness of chorography? Whether, among all the means used
for the correcting and polishing this, the means that the
Talmud affords, should, with any merit or equity, be only
refused? Why the Jewish chorography of the Jewish country
should not be admitted? Certainly, it is unjust, out of pre-
judice, to reject, or out of ignorance not to entertain, those
things, which either might yield us the profit of the choro-
graphy of that land, or stir up no unprofitable search into it.
If a man would engrave maps of Palestine, surely it is very
fit, that he should, together with others, consult those authors,
as being the nearest witnesses, inhabiters of the country, and
such as most studiously and most religiously describe it.
And though you esteem them not worthy of credit, because
BZ
4 PREFACE.
they are Jews,—yet certainly they are worthy of examination,
and may have leave to relate, as they are chorographers.
When, in the reading of these writers, I collected all those
things, which I met with relating hitherto, and compared
them with the maps and tracts already published, J plainly
saw, if my eyes deceived me not, that very many things
might be fetched and drawn out of these authors, which
might correct the maps; very many things, which might
discover places unknown; very many, which might fix those,
that were uncertain; very many, which might illustrate
those, that were certain; and infinite things, which might
some way or other hold out a light to chorography. And
if any dexterous and happy artist, versed in the Talmudic
writings, and skilled in chorography, would undertake a task
and work of this nature, I should expect from such a hand a
more polite and correct map, and a more full, plain, and cer-
tain description of the lands of Israel, than any the Christian
world hath yet seen.
We are far from daring to enter upon such a thing: nor
is our hand sufficiently taught for so great a work, or, indeed,
teachable. That only, which we have attempted in the fol-
lowing century, was this; that, by some instance, we might
a little demonstrate those things, which we speak concerning
the writers of the Talmud: and that some specimen might
be set before our eyes, whereby the reader may judge of their
study, style, use, benefit, in the thing propounded. Nor did
we think it the part of modesty, to burden the reader with
too much of those things, which perhaps are of dubious
aeceptation with him; nor the part of prudence, to expose
and commit, together at once, all that we have, to one wind
and fortune.
From our Study, May 22, 1658.
*.* We have quoted Josephus according to the distinction of chapters in
the Greek edition of Frobenius, anno 1544. [The references
in brackets are to the edition of Tauchnitz—Leips. 1850. |
Α
CHOROGRAPHICAL CENTURY,
&e. ὅσο,
CHAP:
The Division of the Land.
THE Jewish writers divide the whole world into ssw YAN
“ The land of Israel,” and yand mrt “© Without the land:”
that is, the countries of the heathen. Both which phrases
the book of the gospel owns: “The land of Israel,” Matt.
ii. 20: and it calls the heathens, τοὺς ἔξω, “ those that are
without,” 1 Cor. v.13; 1 Tim. ili. 7, &c. And sometimes the
unbelieving Jews themselves, as Mark iv. 11.
They distinguish all the people of the world into Ss
“ Israelites,” and ohn MDW “ the nations of the world.”
The book of the gospel owns that phrase also, Matt. vi. 32 ;
Πάντα ταῦτα τὰ ἔθνη ἐπιζητεῖ, “ After all these things, do the
Gentiles (or nations) seek :” which, in Luke xii. 30, is τὰ ἔθνη
τοῦ xoopod, “The nations of the world.” Hence the word
‘world’ is most commonly used for the Gentiles ; John iii. τό,
17; 1 John uni. 2, &e.
Somewhere a distinction is made into YN “ The land [of
Israel],” and [7 ΓΟ “The region of the sea;” by
pala alia) eae aen vale σ΄. And every foreign region is
ealled the region of the sea, except Babylon :’—they are the
words of Rabbi Solomon>. Which, nevertheless, fall under
the censure of R. Nissim¢: ‘“ It is something hard (saith he)
to reckon every country, which is out of the land, to be the
a English folio edition, vol. ii. b R. Sol. in Gittin, cap. 1.
p. 1.—Leusden’s edition, vol. i. ς R, Nissim ibid.
p. 169.
0 Chorographical century.
region of the sea: for then, under that name, would be
included all the neighbouring places, and which are, as it
were, swallowed up by the land. They say, therefore, that
the more remote places are called, OW M271 ‘ The region
of the sea.’ But neither does this please me: for there is no
need of so great a distance, to make any place to be called,
‘The region of the sea,’ ὅσο. But it is spoken in relation to
the western coast of the land of Israel ; on which side there
are no [/eathen] cities near, and swallowed up by the land.
But the sea sets the bounds ; but it doth not set the bounds
on other sides, &e. The sense, therefore, of R. Solomon,
when he saith, ‘that every region, without the land, is the
region of the sea,’ comes to this, —That every region, which is
hike to that region, is so called.”
Heathen cities were on that western coast; but seeing
they lay within the ancient bounds of the land, namely, the
‘lip of the Mediterranean sea,’—they could not so properly
be said to be ‘ without the land,’ as those which were alto-
gether ‘without the limits.’ Those cities and that country,
therefore, are called by a peculiar title, O37 M27 that is,
the “coast or country by the Mediterranean sea.” Which
title all other cities of the like condition underwent also,
wheresoever seated within the bounds of the land. Exam-
ples will not be wanting as we go along.
They4 commonly define the ‘land of Israel’ under a double
notion: to wit, that Oz “yy ΓΔ iw « which they
possessed, who went up out of Egypt ;” and that 72 INTWw
533 vay «which they possessed, who went up out of Baby-
lon.” This was, in very many places, circumscribed within
narrower limits than that, not only by reason Samaria was
rejected and shut out,—but also, because certain portions
were cut off (and they neither a few nor small), which became
the possessions of those, that went up out of Egypt ; but,
under the second Temple, had passed into the possessions of
the heathen.
Now they were, upon this account, the more exact in
observing their bounds, distinguishing this land by known
bounds, both from all others, and, in some places, as it were,
from itself; because they decreed, that very many mysteries
4 English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 2
Division of the land. 7
of their religion were to be handled nowhere but within
these limits. For® besides the rites of that dispensation,
which the Holy Scripture doth openly and evidently fix to
that land, such as Sacrifices, Passovers, the Priesthood‘, and
other appointments of that nature (which are commonly, and
not improperly, called Yo. ΠΝ muy (“Statutes ap-
pendant to that land”), very many others also are circum-
scribed within the same borders by the fathers of the tra-
ditions.
‘The land of Israel (say they’), above all other lands, is
sanctified by ten holinesses. And what is the holiness of it!
Out of it they bring the sheaf, and the first-fruits, and the
two loaves. And they do not so out of any other land.”
“ The law of beheading the cow doth not take place any
where, but in the land of Israel, and beyond Jordan}.”
“They do not appoint or determine concerning the new
moons, nor do they intercalate the year any where but in
the land of Israel: as it is said, The law shall go forth out of
Sioni.”
“They do not prefer to eldership out of the land of Israel :
no, not although they that do prefer, have themselves been
preferred within the landi.”
And that I heap not together more, they do, in a manner,
eireumscribe the Holy Spirit himself within the limits of that
land. For ‘‘Shechinah (say they‘) dwells not upon any out of
the land.” Compare Acts x. 45.
The land, which the Jews, that came up out of Babylon,
possess, they divide after this manner :—
“There! are three lands (or countries), MIAN που, --
Judea, the land beyond Jordan, and Galilee; and each of
those have three countries :’—those we shall take notice of
in their places. ‘To this received division our Saviour hath
respect, when, sending his disciples to preach to the “ lost
sheep of Israel,” he excludes Samaria, Matt. x. 5; which,
according to the condition of the nation, was not merely
e Vid. R. Sol. in Num. xxxiv. i Idem in wom wip cap. 1.
f Leusden’s edition, vol.ii. p.170. Vid. Hieros. Nedarim, fol 36: 1.
& Kelim, cap. 1. hal. 6. Hieros. i Idem in Sanhedrim, cap. 4.
Shekalim, fol. 47. 4. k Vid. R. Sol. in Jonah 1.
h Maimon. in Ay cap. 10. 1 Shevyiith, cap. 9. hal. 2.
8 Chorographical century.
heathen, nor was it truly Israel. It was not heathen; for™
a) oa mann MAPA MT OD YAU
“The land of Samaria is reckoned clean, and the gathering
together of its waters clean, and its dwellings clean, and its
paths clean :” which the Jewish curiosity would by no means
pronounce of a heathen land. But as to many other things,
they made no difference between them and the Gentiles.
The Jewish doctors do, indeed, particularly apply that
division of the three countries in the place alleged, to the
tradition and canon concerning Wy"; but yet they do every
where retain the same, wheresoever they treat of the divi-
sion of the land of Israel. What ΜΖ means, you may
learn from the authors of the gloss upon the place. Briefly
it was this:—In the seventh year they might eat of the
fruits laid up in their storehouses, so long as some fruit of
that kind hung upon the tree in that country: but when they
could no more find them upon the trees, they were to cast
out those which they had gathered, and laid up at home, and
not to eat of them, as they did before.
CELAP. ils:
The Talmudic Girdle of the Land under the second Temple,
taken out of the Jerusalem Sheviith, fol. 36. 3. DAW DD}
ibid. col. 4.
b> 0s NNN Ke. unto γῦρον τ What αὐ these things
mean, I cannot so much as conjecture; yea, nor can I scarce
conjecture, what the meaning is of some of them. Neither is
there any (idipus at hand, nor Sphinx herself, to explain and
unriddle them. The Talmudists are silent from making any
comments here, nor have we the advantage of any other com-
mentator. We must, therefore, act here according to the
uncertain instruction of nods and winks; and that either by
saying nothing, or by mere conjecture, since that the mind of
the authors is either altogether unknown, or it is wholly
doubtful, whether it be known or no. Expect not, that I go
from street to street to knock at all the gates of these places:
it will be enough, if we can scrape out, in what regions these
places lie, and are able to guess at what points of the heaven
they are disposed. We will at present take in hand only the
m Hieros. Avoda Zara, fol. 44. 4. ™ English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 3.
Girdle of the land. 9
first and last clause of this place quoted; which may have
some tendency towards our entrance into our present busi-
ness. The rest (if there be any we can attain unto) we shall
handle in their proper places.
“These (say they) are the bounds of the land of Israel,
which they possessed that came out of Babylon.”
TW TWD ΓΟ ΓΘ “ The division, or part, of the
walls of the tower Sid.” Nor dare I confidently to assert,
that this is spoken of the ‘ tower of Strato,’ or ‘ Ceesarea ;’
nor yet do I know to what it may more fitly be applied. We
observe in its place, that that tower is called by the Tal-
mudists, \"W ban “The tower Sir:” which, by how very
little a point it differs from this word, and how very apt it is
by want of care in writing to be confounded with it, the eye
of any reader is witness. It may happily confirm this con-
jecture, that 153 the name Aco®, so soon follows, ww
only coming between. Concerning which we have nothing to
say, if that, which we meet with in the writers of the Baby-
lonian Talmud, may not have any place here. They sayP,
NVI NPWS RM: which by the glosser is rendered,
DTT OANA IT S12, &e. “Go in the lowest way, below
the mountains,” and they will protect you from showers and
rain. Hence, therefore, it may be supposed, that the word “31
doth denote some way at the foot of some mountainous place,
which was, as it were, the dividing line between the ‘land of
Israel, and ‘ without the land ;’ perhaps at the foot of mount
Carmel :—but we do not assert it: we had rather profess
silence or ignorance, than, by a light conjecture, either to
deceive others or be deceived ourselves.
These places, concerning which the Talmudists here treat,
are of a different condition from those, which were called
ὈΞῪ ΓΟ “The region of the sea.” For those places
were certain towns, here and there, on this sea-coast, and
elsewhere ; which were, indeed, inhabited by heathens, and
so could not properly be reckoned the ‘land of Israel ;’ yet
they were such, as between which, and the outmost bounds
of the land, was again the land of Israel. But these places,
which we are now handling, are those, which were the utmost
bounds, and beyond which were no places at all, but what
ο Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 171. P Bab. Sanhedrim, fol. 96. 2.
10 Chorographical century.
was reckoned the ‘land of the heathen: the Phcenicians,
Syrians, or other Gentiles, possessing all that coast thence
forward unto the shore of the Mediterranean sea.
We cannot also pass by those things, that are said by the
Gemarists in the very same page, from whence the scheme
before-mentioned is taken. D'AW DOWN, &e. “ You see
isles in the sea; and if a line were drawn from the mountains
of Amana to the river of Egypt,—whatsoever is within the
line, belongs to the land of Israel ; whatsoever is without the
line, is without the land.” After the same manner speaks the
Targum of Jerusalem upon Num. xxxiv. 4: “And their western
bounds shall be the great sea, and the isles of 10. Isles?
What isles? Let the authors of the maps well weigh these
passages.
CHAP. 1116:
A great part of south Judea cut off under the second Temple.
Jewish Idumea.
Tue Talmudic girdle ends, as you see, in RMI AYA OA
Ὧ PUNT “ Kadesh, Barnea, and Asealon.” Hence it cannot
but be observed, that these two places are placed, as it were,
in parallel; and whatsoever space lies between Ascalon and
the river of Egypt, is excluded,—to wit, fifty-four miles. And
one might, indeed, almost see some footsteps of that exclusion
under the first Temple, in that very common expression,
“From Dan even to Beer-sheba.”
This country, that was excluded, was something barren.
The Talmudists' speak thus of it; “ That tract, which lies in
Gerariku [Gerar| is ill to dwell in. How far? To the river of
Egypt.” And Strabos thus; “The country, which follows
Gaza, is barren and sandy,” ὅσο.
It was anciently inhabited by the Avites,—namely, from
Gaza to the river of Egypt. ‘The Avims dwelt in Hazerim,”
Deut. 11.23. Hazar is a word of most frequent mention in
that southern land, “ Hazar-Addar, Hazar-Gaddah, Hazar-
Shua, Hazar-Susah,” &c. And it seems to denote some
champaign plain and level, lying between the mountains.
Hence the habitation of the Avites is called ‘ Hazerim ;’ who
4 English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 4.
τ Hlieros. in the place above.
8 Jib. τόν [e225
Jewish Idumea. 11
are numbered with the Philistines, but yet by themselves,
Josh. xiii. 3:—for see there, how the holy text promising to
number five nations only, numbers 812).
This excluded portion is passed into the name of Idumea.
Hence Plinyt: * Presently from the rising up of the lake Sir-
bon, begins Idumea and Palestine.” Nor that alone, but
another very great part of Judea. Hence the sea of Sodom,
is said, by Diodorus Siculus, to be κατὰ! μέσην ᾿Ιδουμαίαν,
« about the middle of Idumea.” And in Josephus, and the
Book of the Maccabees, we find very many places mentioned
under the name of Idumea, which were almost in the very
middle of Judea. For example’s sake ; Ἦλθεν" μέχρι Γαδάρων,
καὶ τῶν πεδίων τῆς ᾿Ιδουμαίας, καὶ ᾿Αζώτου, καὶ ᾿Ιαμνείας" ““ He
came even to the Gadari, and the plains of Idumea, and Azo-
tus, and Jamnia.” And again; ‘OY δὲ ᾿Ιούδας καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ
αὐτοῦ πολεμοῦντες τοῖς ᾿Ιδουμαίοις οὐκ ἀνίεσαν" ἀλλ᾽ ἐνέκειντο
πανταχόθεν αὐτοῖς. τήν τε Χεβρῶνα πόλιν καταλαβόμενοι, &e.
καὶ Μάρισσαν πόλιν, &e. εἴς te ΓΑζωτον ἐλθόντες, &e. “ And
Judas and his brethren left not off fighting with the Idu-
means: but fell upon them everywhere: and taking the city
Chebron, ὅσο. and the city Marissa, &e. And having come
unto Azotus,” ὅθ. And more to this purpose may be read
here and there. So that distinction may be made, between
Idumea the Greater and the Less. Simon of Gerasa [τὰς 2
ἀνὰ τὴν ᾿Ορεινὴν κώμας κατέτρεχεν, &e. κατέτρεχε δὲ τὴν ᾿Ακρα-
βατηνὴν, καὶ τὰ μέχρι τῆς μεγάλης ᾿Ιδουμαίας] overran the towns
along the mountainous country, &e. And he overran Acra-
batene, and the parts as far as Idumea the Great.” And there
is mention of τὴνἃ ἄνω καλουμένην ᾿Ιδουμαίαν, “ Idumea, called
the Upper.” With these passages, compare Mark 11. 8.
Whilst the Jews were absent from their own country,
enduring the seventy years’ bondage in Babylon,—it is easy
to be believed, that their ancient enemies, the Edomites, and
that were so from the very first original of them, had invaded
their possessions, as much as they could, and had fixed their
roots in that country especially, which was nearest their own:
t Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 13. "8448 [π 8. 6.]
u Diod. Sic. p. 734. [xix. 98. ] de Bello, lib. iv. cap. 30.
x Jos. Antiq. [ΧΙ]. 7. 4.] 1 Macc. (Hudson, p-1197.] [iv. 9. 4.]
iv. 15. a Ibid. cap. 33. [iv. 9. 9-|
y Jos. ibid. cap. 12. [Hudson,
12 Chorographical century.
but at length, by the powerful arms of the Maccabees, and
the Asmoneans, they were either rooted out, or constrained
to embrace Judaism. So Josephus» speaks of Hyrcanus¢ :
Ὑρκανὸς δὲ τῆς ᾿Ιδουμαίας αἱρεῖ πόλεις “Adwpa καὶ Μάρισσαν, &e.
“ Hyreanus takes Ador and Marissa, cities of Idumea: and,
having subdued all the Idumeans, suffered them to remain in
the country, on condition they were willing to be circumcised,
and to use the Jewish laws. And they, out of a desire of
their own country, underwent circumcision, and conformed
to the same course of life with the Jews.’ Hence there
became a mingled generation in that country, between Jew
and Edomite : and the name of the place was mingled also,
and called both Idumea and Judea: “ And Palestine was
divided into five countries,—Idumea, Judea, Samaria, Galilee,
and the country beyond Jordan.”
CHAP ΤΥ:
The seven Seas according to the Talmudists, and the four
Rivers compassing the Land.
“Seven seas (say they‘) and four rivers compass the land
of Israel. I. 839 NO The Great Sea, or the Mediterra-
nean. IT. $° 2197 ΜΟῚ The sea of Tiberias. TIL. ΜΓ yo
The sea of Sodom. IV. 15907 "1° The lake of Samocho.
Vosnbint so ΟἹ. odo a VIL. S227 ND
These four last are otherwise writ in the Jerusalem Talmud :
to wit, thus, IV. ΣΙ No Ve anon VI am
ΓΟ (VIL. SPST ND In the Babylonian Talmud,
thus: TV. ool Sw oe Vv. non bw na VL ao
snon Sw VIL. snes ΓΙΌΣ.
The three first named among the seven are sufficiently
known, and there is no doubt of the fourth :—only the three
names of it are not to be passed by.
IV. 1. \34D The Sibbichean. The word seems to be
derived from Jad a bush. 2. (D395, which seems to sound
the same thing: for O°) thorns, among the Targumists, are
Ὁ Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 17. [Hud- © English folio edition, vol. ii.
son, p. 584.] D5
© Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 172. f Hieros. Kilaim, fol. 32. 1. et
4 Olivar. in Pompon. Melam, lib. Babyl. Bav. Bathra, fol. 72. 2.
[1.7 cap. 11.
The seven seas, &e. 13
Υ̓ΞῚΘ ; because that lake, having no great depth, but very
much dried in the summer-time, was grown over with thorns
and bushes. 3. 13D, from whence the common name Samo-
chonitis, the letters 3 and 3 being changed in 33D and
1370.
Vv. sndinst yo Perhaps the sandy sea. Which fits very
well to the lake of Sirbon, joining the commentary of Dio-
dorus Siculus». For he relates, that that lake, for the most
part, is so covered with sand, that it hath often deceived and
supplanted travellers, yea, whole armies, thinking it to be
firm land.
VI. ΓΙ ΡΤ n° We have nothing to say of this, besides
this observation,—that since it is also called by the same
Gemarists θυ, the guttural M seems to be melted into 5;
which is not unusual to the dialect of the nation, so to
smooth and soften guttural letters. It is also called, by the
Babylonians, ssnbon, which, among the Talmudists, does
sometimes signify rushy or sedgy:—but what the sea is, we
know not. However, we do not forget the Cendevian lake :
but whether that be to be numbered among our catalogue, we
doubt upon this reason,—because on the same coast lies the
Great Sea. .
VII. S*OENT ΝΘ “ The sea of Apamia.” The Jerusalem
writers, in both places, when they speak of that sea, add these
words, N17 &c. The sea of Apamia is the same with the sea
of Chamatz. pardon, &c., “ Dicletinus caused it to be made
by rivers gathered together.” It was, therefore, of a later
date. Concerning it, see the sixty-eighth chapter.
After these seas, mentioned by the Talmudists, hear also
no lean story of theirs concerning the fish: ‘ R. Chaninah¢
Bar R. Abhu said, Seven hundred kinds of clean fish, and
eight hundred kinds of clean locusts, and of birds an infinite
number, travelled with Israel into Babylon, and returned
when Israel returned, except the fish NIDW. But how did
the fish travel? R. Houna Bar Joseph saith, aba IN 7 a
they travelled by the way of the deep, and by the deep they
came back.” Surely it requires a Jewish invention (which is
able to frame any thing out of any thing), to trace a way,
either by any sea, or by any river, through which fish might
b [Lib. i. 30.} © Hieros. Taanith, fol. 69. 2.
14 Choroqraphical century.
swim out of Palestine into Babylon. By the same art they
bring Jonah in the belly of the whale, out of the Phoenician
sea, into the Red sea‘.
That, indeed, is somewhat hard, yet not to be doubted of,
what is said, 2 Chron. viii. 18, concerning Hiram sending
ships to Solomon into the Red sea. What! ships to come
from Tyre into the Red sea? Which way sailed they? It is
answered, He sent such Tyrian ships, which had much and
long traded before in the Red sea, to accompany Solomon’s
fleet. To this belongs that, that it is said there likewise (and
in 1 Kings ix. 27), that “he sent seamen, that had knowledge
of the sea ;” that is, knowledge of that sea: and they proba-
bly not such, who had never yet adventured themselves into
the Red sea, but had experience of it before, and were not
ignorant of the Ophir voyage.
The four rivers for the compassing of the land (they
say) are,—I. }7 Jordan ; that is sufficiently known. I.
Way Yarmoch. In Plinye, ‘Hieramax: “Gaddara (saith
he), Hieramax flowing before it.” IIT. yay Kirmion.
TV. 775 Pigah. Concerning which, thus the Aruchf:
“ Kirmion is a river in the way& to Damascus, and is the
same with Amanah. Pigah is Pharphar. And Jarmoch is
also a river in the way to Damascus.” And the Talmudists®:
“The waters of Kirmion and Pigah are not fit” (to sprinkle
the unclean), “ because they are muddy waters. ‘The waters
also of Jordan, and the waters of Jarmoch, are not fit, because
they are mixed waters :”—that is, as the Gloss speaks, mixed
with the waters of other rivers, which they receive within
themselves.
To! the seven seas, concerning which we have spoken,
those things which are said by Midras Tillim*, do refer: “TI
have created seven seas, saith the Lord, but out of them all
I have chosen none, but the sea of Gennesaret.”—And of the
river of Amanah, of which the Aruch speaks, mention is made
in the Targum upon Cant. iv. 8: “ They that dwell upon the
river Amanah, shall offer thee a gift,” &c.
4 R. Sol. in Jon. ii. h Parah. cap. vii. hal. το.
ς Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 18. i English folio edition, vol. ii. p.6.
f Aruch in ἡ» k Midr. Tillim, fol. 4. 1.
& Leusden’s edition, vol. il. p.173-
The Sea of Sodom. 15
CH APY.
The Sea of Sodom, non D>.
The bounds of Judea, on both sides, are the sea; the
western bound is the Mediterranean,—the eastern, the Dead
sea, or the sea of Sodom. This the Jewish writers every
where call noan f°, which you may not so properly in-
terpret here, “the salt sea,” as “the bituminous sea.” In
which sense ΤΥ non word for word, “Sodom’s salt,”
but properly “‘Sodom’s bitumen,” doth very frequently occur
among them. The use of it was in the holy incense. They
mingled MDI nor‘ bitumenl, JT MHS ‘the amber
of Jordan, and wy nbyn, an herb known to few, with the
spices that made that incense.
᾿Ασφαλτίτιςτι λίμνη ἀπέχει τῶν ἱΙεροσολυμιτῶν ὅρων σταδίους
7: ‘The lake Asphaltitis is distant from Jerusalem three
hundred furlongs :”"—about eight-and-thirty miles.
Ταύτης τῆς λίμνης μῆκος μὲν ὀγδοήκοντα Kal πεντακύσιοι
στάδιοι : “It is extended in length five hundred and eighty
furlongs ;” seventy-two miles.—Etpos δὲ πεντήκοντα καὶ ἑκατόν :
‘i breadth a hundred and fifty furlongs ;” eighteen miles.
Pliny® speaks thus of it: “In length it is more than a
hundred miles: in its greatest breadth, it makes five-and-
twenty,—in its least, six.” What agreement is there between
these two? I suppose Josephus does not comprehend within
his measure the tongue of the sea, of which mention is made,
Josh. xv. 2.—and defines the breadth, as it was generally every
where diffused. Concerning its distance from Jerusalem,
SolinusP also speaks: “In a long retreat from Jerusalem
(saith he) a sad bay openeth itself; which that it was struck
from heaven, the ground, black and dissolved into ashes, testi-
fies. There were two towns there, one named Sodom, the
other Gomorrha.” But that distance was not directly south-
ward, but by a very long declination eastward.
The Talmudists devote “to the sea of Sodom,” non od
any thing, that is destined to rejection and cursing, and that
by no means is to be used.
1 Maimon. in Kele Mikdash,cap.2._ [Hudson, p. 1195.] [iv. 8. 4.]
m Jos. Antiq. lib. xv. 9. [xv. 6. 2.] © Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 16.
n Id. de Bell. lib. iv. cap. 27. P Solin. Polyhist. cap. 38.
10 Chorographical century.
moan od pean pon “‘Letd him devote the use of such
a thing to the bituminous sea.” “Τοῦτ the price of an obla-
tion for sin, the owner whereof is dead, depart M77 od
into the salt sea.”
san obspy® «The proselyte Aquila divided the inheritance
with his brother a Gentile, and devoted the use and benefit
of it to the salt sea. Of three doctors one saith, That he
devoted the moneys of idolatry into the salt sea.” Hence is
that allusion, Rev. xx. 14, “And death and hell were cast into
the lake of fire.”
It doth not please me, that Sodom, in the maps, is placed
in the northern bounds of the Asphaltites; when it seems
rather to be placed in the southern extremity of it. For,
I. The bounds of the land are thus defined by Moses,
Gen. x. 19: “The borders of the Canaanites were from Sidon”
(on the north) ‘unto Gaza” (on the south), “as thou goest
forward, or until thou comest to Sodom.” Are not the
bounds here bent from Gaza to the farthest term opposite
to it on the east ?
II. Josephus t, in the description of the Asphaltites, which
we quoted a little above, hath these words: “ The length of it
is five hundred and eighty furlongs, καθὸ δὴ μέχρι Ζοάρων τῆς
᾿Αραβίας ἐκτείνεται : and it is stretched out as far as Zoar of
Arabia.” Note, that the farthest coast of the extension of it
southward, is to Zoar. But now Zoar was not far distant
from Sodom, when Lot, with his company, got thither before
the rising of the sun, Gen. xix. 23. “It is written (say the
Gemarists"), ‘The sun was risen upon the earth, when Lot
entered into Sodom.’?— Now Sodom was four miles from
Zoar.”
The maps show you Zoar and Lot’s Cave in Judea, at the
northern coast almost of the Asphaltites :—by what authority,
I do not apprehend. The Talmudists*, indeed, do mention a
certain Zoar, which they also eall, “The City of Palms.”—
‘** There is a story (say they) of some Levites, who travelled
to Zoar, the city of palms: and one of them fell sick, whom
4 Hieros. Avodah Zarah, fol. 39.2. t Jos. de Bell. [iv. 8. 4.]
r Hieros. Sotah, fol. 19.1. Nazir. ἃ Hieros. Berach. fol. 2. 3.
cap. 4. hal. 4. x Jevamoth, cap. 16. hal. ult.
3. Hieros. Demai, fol. 25. 4.
Asphaltites. Essenes. En-gedi. 17
they brought to an inny, and there he died.” But I should
sooner believe, that there were two Zoars, than I should be-
lieve, that the father of the Moabites were not conceived and
born near Zoar of the land of Moab. See Isa. xv. 5.
Concerning the age of Sodom, when it perished, see the
places in the margin?, and weigh them well.
(CELA BP. Vie
The Coast of the Asphaltites. The Essenes. En-gedt.
“On the western shore” (of the Asphaltites) “dwell the
Essenes; whom persons, guilty of any crimes, fly from on
every side. A nation it is that lives alone, and of all other
nations in the whole world, most to be admired; they are
without any woman; all lust banished, &c. Below these,
was the town Engadda, the next to Jerusalem for fruitful-
ness, and groves of palm-trees, now another burying-place,
From thence stands Massada, a castle in a rock, and this
castle not far from the Asphaltites>.”
Solinus®, Pliny’s shadow, speaks the like things: ‘“ The
Essenes possess the inner parts of Judea, which look to the
west. The town Engadda lay beneath the Essenes; but it
is now destroyed: but its glory for the famous groves, that
are there, doth still endure: and in regard of its most lofty
woods of palms, it hath received no disparagement either by
age or war. ‘The castle Massada is the bounds of Judea.”
We are looking for the places, not the men:—we might
otherwise begin the history of the Essenes from those words,
Judg. 1. 16: ‘And the sons of the Kenite, Moses’s father-in-
law, went out of the city of palms, with the sons of Judah,
into the deserts of Judah.” From these we suppose came
the Rechabites,—and from their stock, or example, the Es-
senes. Which if it be true, we make this an argument of
the ill placing of En-gedi in the maps, being set too much
towards the north, when it ought to have been placed to-
wards the utmost southern coasts.
If the Essenes were the same with the Kenites in seat and
place, and the Kenites dwelt beyond Arad southward, or in-
y Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 174. a English folio edition, vol.2.p.7.
z Bab. Shab. fol. 10. 2. et 11. 1. b Plin. lib. v. cap. 17.
et Juchas. fol. 8. 1. © Solin. cap. 38.
LIGHTFOOT, VOL. I. Cc
18 Asphaltites. HEssenes. Hngedi.
deed even with Arad, which is asserted in the text alleged,—
and if below these were En-gedi, which is also asserted by
the authors cited,—certainly, then, the maps have laid it a
long way distant from its own proper place, too much north-
ward. View them, and think of these things. To which we
also add this :—
The southern borders of the land, Ezek. xlvii. 19 (the very
same which are mentioned Num. xxxiv. and Josh. xv. 2), are
thus declared; “* The southern coast southward from Tamar
to the waters of Meribah in Cadesh,” &c. But now Tamar
and En-gedi are the same, 2 Chron. xx. 2. Nor have we any
reason why we should seek another Tamar elsewhere. Cer-
tainly, the Chaldee paraphrast, and Rabbi Sol. Jarchi, and
Kimchi following him, have rendered Tamar, in Ezekiel,
Jericho. But upon what reason? For how, I beseech you,
was it possible, that Jericho should be the bounds of the
south land, when it was the utmost bounds of Judea north-
ward? It was this, without all doubt, drove them to that
version of the word, because Jericho is called the City of
Palms,—and Tamar “3m signifies a palm; since En-gedi
would not give place to Jericho, one inch in regard of the
glory of palm-groves.
Whether Tadmor, 1 Kings ix. 18, be the same with this
our Tamar,—and whether Tadmor in the Talmudists be the
same with that Tadmor,—we leave to the reader to consider.
We produce these few things concerning it, which are related
by them,—for the sake of such consideration :—
“'They™ receive proselytes from those of Cardya and Tad-
mor. Rab. Abhu, in the name of R. Jochanan, saith, The
tradition asserts, that the proselytes of Tadmor are fit to
enter into the congregation.” It was said a little before ;
“Haggai the prophet taught these three lessons :—N37 My,
The rival of a daughter” (of a priest) ‘‘ may be married by a
priest. The Moabites and Ammonites ought to tithe the
poor’s tithe the seventh year. And the proselytes of Tadmor
are fit to enter into the congregation.”
This story is recited in the Jerusalem Misna": O79
mow, “ Mary, of Tadmor, having part of the blood
τὰ Hieros. Jevam. fol. 3. 2. n Nazir. cap. vi. hal. 13.
Double Rekam. 19
sprinkled upon her” (whereby she was to be purified), “ heard
in that very juncture of time, that her daughter was dead,”
&e. But the Babylonian calls her MAIN “ of Tarmod.”
— From the place Tarmud,” saith the Gloss°.—The ‘ Tar-
mudeans,’ "8'TYODAN, are said, by those of the Babylonian
Talmud, to be certain poor people, who got themselves a
livelihood by gathering up wood, and selling it.
R. JochananP said, “ Blessed is he, who shall see the de-
struction of Tadmor: for she communicated in the destruc-
tion of the first and second Temple. In the destruction of
the first, she brought eighty thousand archers: and so she
did, in the destruction of the second.”
CHAR. Vil.s
Kadesh. G97, and that double. Inquiry is made, Whether
the doubling it in the Maps is well done.
Tue readers of the eastern interpreters will observe, that
wip Kadesh is rendered by all O24 Lekam, or in a sound
very near it. In the Chaldee, it is ‘ Rekam:’ in the Syriac,
‘Rekem:’ in the Arabic, ‘Rakim.’ And Kadesh-barnea, in
Onkelos, is TNA OP: in Jonathan, WY ὩΡ (from which
words, compared, we may observe how the guttural ἃ) is
melted): in the Targum of Jerusalem, RYAN 0/7: in the
Gemarists, TY} Dj.
There are two places noted by the name DP 7 Rehkam in
the very bounds’ of the land,—to wit, the southern and
eastern: that is, a double Kadesh.
I. Of Kadesh, or Rekam, in the south part, there is no
doubt.
11. Of it, in the eastern part, there is this mentions:
mys oy mins Dw. “From Rekam to the east, and
Rekam is as the east :” that is, R. Nissim interpreting, “ Rekam
itself is reckoned for the east of the world” (that is, for the
land of the heathen), ““ not for the land of Israel.” Behold!
a Rekam, or a Kadesh, also, on the east. But the maps have
feigned to themselves another Kadesh, besides Barnea, and
this eastern Rekam; whither, they think, the people of Israel
© Bab. Schab. fol. 21, 2. and a English folio edition, vol.ii. p.8.
Aruch in ΤΠ. r Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 175.
® Hieros. Taanith, fol. 69. 2. 5. See R. Nissim in Gittin, cap. i.
Cc 2
20 Chorographical century.
came in the fortieth year of their travel, Num. xx. These,
we suppose, were some of the reasons, whereby the authors
of them were drawn to it.
I. Beeause Kadesh-barnea was in the desert of Paran,
Num. xi. τό. xiv. τ. But the Kadesh, whither they came
the fortieth year, was in the desert of Zin, Num. xx. 1.—I
answer, The searchers of the land, departing from Kadesh-
barnea, are said, also, to go out of the deserts of Zin, Num.
xiii. 21. Paran was the general name of that dreadful
desert ; Zin only one part of it.
II. In Kadesh-barnea they encamped many days, Deut.
i. 46. But in that Kadesh, concerning which mention is
made, Num. xx, there was not provision sufficient, whereby
they might be sustained one day. For they complain, that
it was a place altogether destitute of seed, figs, vines, and
pomegranates, Num. xx. 5: which they did not at all com-
plain of, while they remained in Kadesh-barnea.—I answer,
Omitting, that wheresoever they encamped, they were fed
by manna; the complaint arose among them, not so much of
the place itself, as of the ill boding and prejudice, as I may
so say, of the place; because, from the barrenness of this
place, they prejudged of the like barrenness of that land,
into which they were to enter,—and the porch, as it were,
of which, was Kadesh-barnea. When they came hither
first, now thirty-eight years before, ‘‘ Ye came to the moun-
tain of the Amorites (saith Moses) which the Lord giveth
you,” Deut. i.20, 21. ‘Is it so? (think they with them-
selves) ‘ Does the first entrance of the land of promise, pro-
mise no better? There is little hope of the land itself, if
the beginnings of it are such. It is convenient, therefore,
that we send before us spies, who may bring us word, whe-
ther it is of so great account, that we should tire and hazard
ourselves by going to that soil, whose first appearance is so
horrid and desperate..—And hence was that unhappy argu-
ment before their eyes, by the inducement of which the
whole multitude, by so unanimous a vote, concluded and
resolved against the land. And since now, after so much
time passed, they are come back to the same place, they
think, distrust, and complain of the same things.
III. In Kadesh-barnea, they had a supply of water; in
Double Rekam. οΥ
Kadesh, whither they came the fortieth year, there was no
water, Num. xx, &c.—I answer, They drank, when they first
came to Kadesh-barnea, of the rock, which followed them
(1 Cor. x. 2), which dried up, when they were now ready to
enter into the land. If you ask, Why had those rivers that
followed them, dried up, as soon as they came at Kadesh-
barnea, which before had not dried up when they came
thither ;—then I ask also, Why had they dried up, when
they came to another Kadesh ?
IV. Concerning the Kadesh, whither they came the last
year of their travel, it is said, that the city was in the utmost
bounds of the land of Edom : and therefore, they desire leave
of the king to pass through the land of Edom, Num. xx. τό,"
17.—I answer, Nothing at all hinders, but these things may
be spoke of Kadesh-barnea, which lying contiguous to the
mountain of the Amorites, that is, to mountainous Judea,
showed so great an army an access, and promised it ; only
that access was winding, and very difficult to be passed.
They desire, therefore, a more level way of the king of Edom,
but obtain it not.
V. Perhapst that which chiefly moved them, was this;
that supposing one Kadesh only, to wit, Barnea,—it will be
searce possible not to confound the encampings of Israel in
the wilderness, and their movings from place to place.—I
answer, There will be the same easiness of ordering them, if
you do but reduce the sixth and seventh verses of Deut. x,
into a true sense, and into agreement with Num. xxxiil. from
ver. 31 to 41; which is not hard to do. But let these things
suffice, for the present, to have spoke besides our scope.
That that Kadesh, to which they came in the fortieth year
(which is called Meribah, Num. xx. 13), is the same with
Kadesh-barnea, is clear enough from hence,—that Meribah
in Kadesh is assigned for the southern border of the land,
Ezek. xlvii. 19; which border of old was Kadesh-barnea,
Num. xxxiv. 4, Josh. xv. 3.
CHAP. VILL.
The River of Egypt, Rhinocorura. The Lake of Sirbon.
Pury" writes, “ From Pelusium are the intrenchments of
t English folio edition, vol. 11. p. 9. " Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 12. [13.]
22 Chorographical Century.
Chabrias: mount Casius: the temple of Jupiter Casius: the
tomb of Pompey the Great: Ostracine: Arabia is bounded
sixty-five miles from Pelusium: soon after begins Idumea
and Palestine from the rising up of the Sirbon lake.” Either
my eyes deceive me, while I read these things,—or mount
Casius lies nearer Pelusium, than the lake of Sirbon. The
maps have ill placed the Sirbon between mount Casius and
Pelusium.
Strbon (AWW) implies burning [2]: the name of the lake
being derived from its nature, which is fiery and bituminous. It
is described by Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, and others, whom
you may look upon. A lake like to that of Sodom", and per-
haps was of the like fate and original; to wit, an example of
divine indignation. What if it be the monument of that
dreadful earthquake in the days of Uzziah, Amos i. 1, Zech.
xiv. 5? when God contended also in fire, Amos vil. 4: so
that some cities perished after the manner of Sodom and
Gomorrha, Amos iy. 11, Isa. i. 9.
omy br, The farthest border of the land of Israel
southward is not Nile in Egypt, but Shihor in the way to
Egypt, Josh. xiii. 3, Jer. 11.18. In the Seventy interpreters,
it is Rhinocorura; for they render that in Isa. xxvii. 12,
am )5 2) bm 7, “unto the stream of Egypt.” Ἕως ‘Pwoko-
ρούρων, “ unto Rhinocorura.” Of which place and name,
derived from the ‘cutting of nostrils,’ see Diodorus Siculus,
lib. 1. [60.]
CHAP. EX.
A Sight of Judea.
“Ty Judea* is the mountainous country, the plain, and the
vale. What is the mountainous country of Judea? ΓΤ M7},
bran It is the king’s mountain. ‘The plain of it is the plain
of the south. The vale is from En-gedi to Jericho. The plain
of Lydda is as the plain of the south: and its mountainous
country is as the king’s mountainous country: PAT Ml,
&e. From Beth-horon to the sea is one cireumjacent region.
Rabbi Jochanan saith, Yet it hath a mountainous part, a
plain, and a vale. From Beth-horon to Emmaus is moun-
ἃ Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 176. x Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 38. 4.
A Sight of Judea. 23
tainous,—from Emmaus to Lydda is plainn—from Lydda to
the sea is valley.”
Judea is not divided amiss into four parts:—namely, into
the country, which formerly was the Philistines’, which takes
up the western part. To this joins, on the east, the moun-
tainous country of Judea, which is also called ‘‘ The king’s
mount.” ΤῸ the mountainous country, on the east, joins a
plain, a country more low and level than the mountains,
which nevertheless here and there hath its hills. Hence is
that, waw mb>pw, ὅσο. “Ay valley, lying between moun-
tains, is reckoned with the mountains, and mountains in a
valley are numbered with the valley.” To to the plain east-
wardly joins a valley, lower than the plain,—namely, the coast
of the sea of Sodom, and at length of Jordan.
The land of Benjamin, in like manner, which is numbered
with Judea, in respect of its superficies, was of the same
nature; which, although στενότατος 6 κλῆρος οὗτος ἣν διὰ τὴν
τῆς γῆς ἀρετὴν, “it? was a portion of the narrowest limits, by
reason of the goodness of the soil,” yet had its mountainous
part, its plain, and vale: and that, not only towards Lydda,
and the great sea, but towards Jericho and Jordan.
Judea did excel all the other parts of the land of Israel in
very many privileges. For, besides that in it was seated Je-
rusalem, the metropolis of the whole nation, and in Jerusalem
stood the Temple, and in the Temple sat the Sanhedrim ;—
this was also peculiar to it out of the Canons, that “it> was
not lawful to intercalate the year out of Judea, while they
might do it in Judea.’’? Maimonides¢ gives the reason of the
thing, “‘ Because there dwelt the divine glory.”—*‘ Nor‘ was
the sheaf of the first-fruits of the barley to be fetched else-
where, than from Judea, and as near as might be to Jeru-
salem.” Once€ it was fetched a great way off, ὅσο.
CHAP. X.
A Description of the Sca-coast, out of Pliny and Strabo.
‘“Tpumeaf and Palestine begin from the rising up of the
y Idem ibid. ἐν τοῖς φαραγγώδεσι Ὁ Hieros. Nedarim, fol. 40. 1.
τῶν ὀρῶν. Joseph.Antiq. lib. xili. cap. ¢ Maim. in Kiddush Hodesh,
13. [xiil. 7. 3. ] cap. 4.
Ζ English folio edition, vol.2.p.10. 4 Bab. Sanhedr. fol. τι. 2.
a Joseph. Antiq. lib. v. cap. 1. € Idem Menachoth, fol. 64. 2, &e.
[ive τὸ 225] f Pliny, lib. v. cap. 13.
94 Chorographical Century.
Sirbon lake. The towns of Rhinocorura, and within Raphea.
Gaza, and within Anthedon. Mount Angaris. The country
along the coast, Samaria. The free town Ascalon, Azotus.
The two Jamnes, the one a village” (otherwise Jamne within).
“ Joppe of the Phoenicians, Thence Apollonia. The tower
of Strato; the same is Ceesarea. The bounds of Palestine are
a hundred and eighty-nine miles from the confines of Arabia.
Then begins Pheenice.”
And ehap. xix: “ We must go back to the coast, and
Pheenice. There was the town Crocodilon ; it is now a river.
Ruins of some cities. Dorum. Sycaminum. The promontory
Carmel: and, in the mountain, a town of the same name,
heretofore called Eebatana. Near that, Getta, Lebba, the
river Pagida or Belus, mingling glassy sand with its small
shore: it flows from the lake Cendevia, at the root of Carmel.
Next that is Ptolemais, a colony of Claudius Czesar, which
heretofore was called Ace. The town Eedippa. The White
Promontory. Tyrus, heretofore an island, &e. It is in com-
pass nineteen miles, Pals-Tyre, lying within, being included.
The town itself contains two-and-twenty furlongs. Then the
towns, Enhydra, Sarepta, and Ornithon ; and Sidon, the artist
of glass, and the mother of Thebes in Bceotia.”’
Strabos goes backward: Διέχει δὲ τῆς Σιδόνος ἡ Τύρος οὐ
πλείους τῶν διακοσίων σταδίων" “'Tyrus is not distant from Sidon
above two hundred furlongs :"—five-and-twenty miles.
The masters of the Jews have observed this neighbour-
hood in that eanon, whereby provision is made, that nobody
betake himself to sail in the Mediterranean sea within three
days before the sabbath: “But if any (say they") will sail
from Tyre to Sidon, he may, even on the eve of the sabbath:
because it is welli known, that that space may be sailed,
while it is yet day.”
"Ev τῷ μεταξὺ πολίχνιον, ὀρνίθων πόλις λεγομένη. ““ Between
Tyre and Sidon there is the little city Ornithon” (the city of
birds). ‘ At Tyre a river goes out.”
“Thirty furlongs beyond Tyre is Palee-Tyrus :” three miles
three quarters. When, therefore, Pliny saith, the compass of
Tyre is nineteen miles, “ Pale-Tyre, that lies within, being
included,” he shows manifestly, that it is not to be understood
& Strabo, lib. xvi. [2.] h Tanchum, fol. 77, 1.
“ = o,° ee id
1 Leusden’s edition, vol. il. p. 177.
Sea-coast of Juda. 25
of the compass of the city itself, since he saith, “The town
itself held two-and-twenty furlongs : nor can it well be taken
of the whole circumference of the Tyrian jurisdiction, but
rather of the extent of the bounds of it that way, which he
went.
Εἶθ᾽ ἡ Πτολεμαΐς ἐστι μεγάλη πόλις, ἣν ᾿Ακὴν ὠνόμαζον, &e.
«ς Moreover, from Tyre” (southward) “is Ptolemais, formerly
called Ace. And between Ace and Tyre, is a shore heaped
with sands fit to make glass.”
Mera δὲ τὴν ᾿Ακὴν Στράτωνος πύργος, &e. “ Beyond Ace is
the tower of Strato. The mountain Carmel lies between: and
the names of some small cities, and nothing more. The cities
of Syeamines, of Herdsmen, of Crocodiles, and others. And
going thence, is a certain great wood.”
Eira ᾿Ιόππη, &e. “After that, Joppa; next which, the
shore of Egypt, which before had stretched out towards sun-
rising, does remarkably bend towards the north. There some
talk, that Andromeda was exposed to the whale. A place
sufficiently high; so high, indeed, that from thence (they
report) Jerusalem may be seen, the metropolis of the Jews.
The Jews, also, that go down to the sea, use this port. But
these ports are receptacles for robbers. And so was the wood
and Carmel.”
Kaik δὲ καὶ εὐήνδρησεν οὗτος ὁ τόπος, &e. “ And this place
was so well peopled, that, out of Jamnia, a near village, and
the dwellings neighbouring about, might be armed forty thou-
sand men.”
Εἰσὶ δὲ ἐντεῦθεν εἰς τὸν Κάσιον, &e. ‘ Thence to mount
Casius towards Pelusium, the distance is a thousand fur-
longs, and a little more. And three hundred more to Pe-
lusium.”
Here we must stop, and see how these two authors do
agree. For, according to Strabo’s account, one thousand
three hundred furlongs, and a little more, run out from Pelu-
sium to Joppa: that is, one hundred and sixty three miles, or
thereabouts: but according to Pliny’s, at first sight, more by
far. For “Arabia (saith he) is bounded sixty-five miles from
Pelusium: and the end of Palestine is one hundred and
eighty-nine miles from the confines of Arabia. And then
k English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 11.
νἅ
90 Chorographical century.
begins Pheenice.” The sum is two hundred and fifty-four
miles. He had named Joppa before, ‘Joppa of the Phee-
nicians.’? But now, supposing he makes Joppa the border
of Palestine, and the beginning of Pheenice, there are from
Pelusium to Joppa, himself reckoning, almost a hundred miles
more than in Strabo. Nor is there any thing to answer from
the difference of the measure of Strabo’s furlongs, and Pliny’s
miles. For they go by the same measure, themselves being
witnesses: for to Strabo, τὸ μίλιον ὀκτοστάδιον, “ Kight™
furlongs make a mile ;” and, to Pliny, ** A° furlong makes a
hundred and twenty-five of our paces :"—which comes to the
same thing.
We must therefore say, that by the ‘ end of Palestine,’ in
Pliny®, is properly signified the end of it, touching upon
Pheenicia properly so called ;—that is, upon the borders of
Tyre and Sidon. For when he ealls Joppa, “ Joppa of the
Pheenicians,’—he does not conclude Joppa within Pheenicia ;
but because the sea, washing upon that shore of Palestine,
was divided in common speeeh into the Pheenician and the
Egyptian sea (so Strabo before, “ Afterward Joppe; after
that, the shore of Egypt,” &c.) ; and because the Pheenicians
were famous for navigation,—he ascribed their name to
Joppa, a very eminent haven of that shore. But he stretched
the borders of Palestine a great way farther ;—namely, so far
till they meet with the borders of Tyre and Sidon. So far,
therefore, doth Pliny’s measure extend itself; to wit,—that,
from Idumea, and the rising of the Sirbon lake, to the borders
of Tyre and Sidon, there be one hundred and eighty-nine
miles. The place that divided these meeting-bounds to the
Jews, was Acon, or Ptolemais; which we shall note, when
we come thither :—but whether it was so to Pliny, remains
obscure. But it is a more probable opinion, that he computed
according to the vulgar and most known distinction.
Gulielmus TyriusP, measuring the borders of the Tyre of his
time southward, extends them to four or five miles: ‘ For it
is extended southward towards Ptolemais, as far as to that
place, which, at this day, is called ‘the district of Seanda-
rion,’ which is four or five miles.” If, therefore, it should be
ΕΣ
n Strabo, lib. vii. [p. 497. ] © Plin. lib. ii. c. 23.
P G. 'Tyrius, De Bello Sacro, c. 3.
Mountainous country of Judea. 27
granted, that Pliny’s measure extended so far, we might
compute the length of the land from the Sirbon, where also is
the river of Egypt, to Sidon, by this account :
I. From the Sirbon to the borders of Phcenice, one hundred
and eighty-nine miles.— Pliny.
II. From the first borders of Phcenice to Tyre, five miles.
—Gul. Tyrius.
III. From Tyre to Sidon, twenty-five miles.—Strabo.
Sum total is two hundred and nineteen miles.
CHAP. Xia
The mountainous Country of Judea.
oy emia
“Wuart is the mountainous country of Judea? 7 7M
qbon: It is the king’s mountain.”
However Judea, here and there, doth swell out much with
mountains, yet its chief swelling appears in that broad back
of mountains, that runs from the utmost southern coast as
far as Hebron, and almost as Jerusalem itself. Which the
Holy Seripture calls ATW VW ὀρεινὴ ᾿Ιούδα, “ The hill-
country of Judah,” Josh. xxi. 11, Luke i. 39.
Unless I am very much mistaken,—the maps of Adri-
comus, Tirinius, and others, ought to be corrected, which
have feigned to themselves a very long back of mountains,
beginning almost at the Red Sea, and reaching almost to
the land of Canaan, and that with this inscription, “The
Amorrhean Mountain.” Those authors are mistaken by an
ill interpretation of the phrase ANT VW T7, rendering
it, “ in the way by” (or near) “the mountain ofs the Amor-
ites,”—when it should be rendered, “in the way ¢o the
mountain of the Amorites.” Let the reader consult Deut.
1.19, 20: “ We departed from Horeb, and went through all
that great and terrible desert, which ye saw, WANT WT 7,
in the way leading to the mountain of the Amorite, as our
Lord commanded us, and came to Cadesh-barnea. Then I
said unto you, You are now come to the mountain of the
Amorites,” &e.
4 Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 178. τ Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 38. 4.
S English folio edition, vol. il. p. 12.
28 Chorographical century.
The mountain of the Amorites took its beginning from
Cadesh-barnea, the southern border, of the land of Israel,—-
and, by a hardened gibbosity, thrust forward itself into Judea
beyond Hebron, the name only being changed into the “ Hill-
country of Judea.” Whence is that of Samson to be under-
stood, that he carried not the gates of Gaza near to Hebron,
or to the mountain, whence Hebron might be seen ;—but to
the top of this mountainous country, which runs out to
Hebron :—and so are the words to be rendered, Jud. xvi. 3,
“He carried them to the top of a mountainous place, which is
before Hebron.”
This mountainous country is called OWT V1, “ The
mountainous desert,” Psal. Ixxv. 6, because it is not from the
east, nor from the west, nor from the desert of the moun-
tains. Where the Targum thus; “ Nor from the south, the
mountainous place.”
It remains doubtful, why it is called by the Talmudists
qban <7, “The King’s mountain.’ Whether because it
was king among all the other mountains of Judea? or, be-
cause the royal dignity of David’s house sprang hence,—to
wit, from Hebron? There is much mention of it in the Jewish
writers.
The Chaldee paraphrast upon Judg. iv. 5: ‘‘ Deborah had
S79 Wor WN wy white dust in the King’s Mountain.”
That is, as it seems, potter’s clay: for the Gemarists, speaking
somewhere concerning potters, say, ‘“thatt they work in black
dust, or in white dust.”
“Inu the days of R. Hoshaia, some went about to get a
freedom from some tithes for the Mount of the King.”
Rabbi Simeon* had vine-dressers J1377 ΓΞ in the Mount
of the King. He was minded to let out his vineyard to
heathens.
R. Chaijahy, Τὸ, Issai, and R. Immai, went up to the King’s
Mountain. They saw a certain heathen, who was suspicious
concerning their wine.
A myriad of cities stood in the Mountain-royal, of which
R. Eliezer Ben Harsum possessed a thousand.” This moun-
t Hieros. Bava Mezia, fol. 11. 4. y Ibid. fol. 44. 4.
" Idem Demai, fol. 24. 4. 2 Hieros. 'Taanith, fol. 69. 1.
* Idem Avodah Zarah, fol. 42. 2.
Mountainous country of Judea. 29
tainous country is not, therefore, called OWI VT “ The
mountainous desert,” because it was void of cities and towns,
but because it was a more barren and rough country.
sndsaans shure ὅσο. “The Royal Mountain was
laid waste by reason of a cock anda hen. It was the custom,
when they brought forth the bridegroom and the bride, to
lead before them a cock and a hen: as if they should say,
Increase and multiply, as they. On a certain day a regiment
of Romans passed by, and wrested the cock and the hen from
them: these, therefore, rose up against them, and beat them.
Away, therefore, they go to Cesar, and told him, The Jews
rebel against thee, &c. R. Asai saith, Three hundred thou-
sand drew sword, and went up to the Royal Mountain, and
there slew for three days and three nights,” ἕο.
Rabbi Asai saith, “‘ Janneus the king had sixty myriads of
cities in the Royal Mountain: and in each the number was
equal to them, that went out of Egypt,—excepting three
cities, in which that number was doubted. And these were,
I, wo 45, Caphar Bish” (that is, the Il] Town) ; “ therefore
called so $77, &c. because it afforded not a house of hospi-
tality. II. on Srey ἼΒΞ, a town, that had its name from a
certain herb, because by that herb they were nourished.
ILL. NDT AED, the town of males; so called, saith R. Jocha-
nan, because their wives first brought forth males, and then
females, and so left off.”
This story is recited by the Jerusalem Talmudists, who
say, NIT ἼΞ2Ρ is so called, because, unless the women
departed thence somewhere else, they could not bring forth
male children.
“ But (saith Ulla) I saw that place, and it is not able to
contain even sixty myriads of nests. Therefore, said a certain
sectary of R. Chaninah, Ye lie, ye lie. To whom he replied
That land is called "28 YON ‘ the land of a Kid but now
s3% ‘a kid’ hath a skin, that does πούς contain his flesh: so
the land of Israel, while it is inhabited, is spacious; but,
when uninhabited, more contracted.”
a Bab. Gittin. fol. 57. 1. Ὁ Hieros. Taanith, fol. 69. τ.
© Leusden’s edition, vol. 11. p. 179.
90 Chorographical century.
CHAP. XII.4
The South Country. FSM andy srt. Judea called
D7 < the South,’ in respect of Galilee.
Ranpan Gamausiece, and the elders sitting together at the
ascent into the gallery, in the mount of the Temple, had
Jochanan, the priest, and the amanuensis, sitting with them.
They said to him, ‘ Go to, write to our brethren, the inhabit-
ants of Upper Galilee, and of Nether Galilee, health: we
certify you, that the time is come of separating the tithes.
Nyy NT a oNdy NT 3. sds And to
our brethren, that inhabit the Upper South Country, and
that inhabit the Nether South Country, health: we certify
you,” &e.
The ‘ Upper South country’ consisted of that part of the
country, which was hilly ; the ‘ Nether,’ of a plain, and valley
sinking on both sides. Which country, although it were
barren f above all other parts of the land, yet had its inhabit-
ants, and those many, as well as other countries of the land.
He that turns over the Talmudical books, will meet very
frequently with the name of the ‘South,’ taken for ‘ whole
Judea’ in opposition to ‘Galilee.’ “ Those’ of Zippor en-
joined a fast to obtain rain, but the rain came not down.
Therefore, said they of Zippor, R. Joshua Ben Levi obtained
rain for the southern people: but R. Chaninah hinders it from
coming upon the people of Zippor. They were called, there-
fore, together to a second fast. R. Chaninah sent to fetch
R. Joshua Ben Levi. And both went out to the fast, and yet
rain fell not. He stood forth, therefore, and said before them,
Neither doth Joshua Ben Levi obtain rain for the southern
people, nor does R. Chaninah restrain it from the people of
Zippor: but the southern people have a soft heart, to hear
the words of the law and be humbled: but the people of Zip-
por have a hard heart.” But now R. Joshua Ben Levi, who
was called SYD177 “ the southern,” was of Lydda: and those
4 English folio edition, vol. ii. p. f Tanch. et R. Solom. in Num.
135 Xiil.
ὁ Hieros. Maasar Sheni, fol. 56. 5 Hieros. 'l'aanith, fol. 66. 3.
3. and Sanhedr. fol. 8. 4. and Bab. h Tdem Chaltah, fol. 57. 2.
Sanhedr. fol. 11. 2.
Gaza. 91
southern people’, for whom he obtained rain, were of Lydda,
and such as dwelt in that country.
«Ak devout disciple pn) ΤΩ, learned the intereala-
tion of the year before his master, three years and a half: he
came, and intercalated for Galilee: but he could not interca-
late for the south,” that is, for Judea.
Hence you may understand, in what sense some Rabbins
are called SAINT southern: as NNO Ay Ἰ. “ane ia-
cob! of the south,” who is called also R. Jacob MIDI: alsom
N WINNT syonw ~, “R. Samlai of the south" ;”? whom you
have disputing with certain, whom the Gemarists call })2%%,
that is, heretics: whom I think rather to have been ‘ Christ-
ians.’ And it seems to be the disputation of a Christian pur-
posed to assert a trinity of persons in the Deity, but never-
theless a unity of the Deity. After you have heard the mat-
ter, perhaps you will be of my judgment. View the place.
CHAP. XIII.
Gaza.
Arrer very many histories of this place in the Holy Bible,
which there is no need to repeat here,-—in® this city did
Alexander the Great, at length, besiege Babemeses the Per-
sian, by the space of two months. “EvéogdsP ποτε γενομένη
κατεσπασμένη δ᾽ ὑπὸ ᾿Αλεξάνδρου, καὶ μένουσα ἔρημος" “And that
city, which before-time was most famous, was laid waste by
him, and rendered desert.” Not that he had destroyed the
building of the city, or consumed it with fire; for presently
after his death, Antigonus and Ptolemy, his captains, fighting,
itd had walls, gates, and fortifications: but that he divested
it of its ancient glory, so that it was at last melted into a new
city of that name built nearer the sea, where formerly had
been Γαζαίων λιμὴν, ‘the haven of the Gazeans. That is
ealled by Diodorus, Γάζα παλαιὰ, “ old Gaza; and Γάζα ἔρημος,
‘Gaza desert,’ by Strabo, and the New Testament, Acts viii.
26. At last it was called ‘ New Maijuma,’ and after that
i Idem Trumoth, fol. 46. 2. © Joseph. Antiq. lib. xi. cap. 8.
k Idem Erubhin, fol. 23. 3. fixis8. 33]
1 Idem Succah, fol. 53. 4. P Strabo, lib. xvi. [2.]
m Tdem Beracoth, fol. 2. 2. a Diod. Sicul. lib. το. [84.]
n Idem ibid. fol. 11. 4.
92 Ohorographical century.
‘ Constantia :—concerning which, see Eusebius, of ‘ the Life
of Constantine, book iv. chap. 28; and Sozomen’s ‘ Keclesi-
astical History,’ book ν. chap. 3.
my by» smbyyr is mentioned by the Talmudistss ; which,
the Glosser interpreting, was a certain street without the city
Gaza; where was ὦ shambles, and where there also was an
idol-temple.
There t is mentioned, also, the ‘mart of Gaza,’ one of the
three more famed marts,—to wit, that of Gaza, and of Aco,
and of Botna, (ΤΙΣ ἽἼΖ.)
There® was a place also without the city, which was
called, Δ ΓΖ ΓΤ ‘The waste (or desert) of the leper’s
cloister.’
CHAP. XIV.*
Ascalon. Gerar. The Story of the Eighty Witches.
‘ Ascaton,’ in the Samaritan interpreter, is the same with
‘Gerar, Gen. xxi.
The word Gerar, among the Talmudists, seems to have
passed into ‘ Gerariku.’ ‘* Wherefore (say they Y) have they
not determined yaw ΠῚῚ AMS boyy. of that country,
which is in Gerariiu? Because it is ill to dwell in. How far ?
To the river of Egypt. But behold, Gaza is pleasant to
dwell in,” ὅσο.
In the author of Aruch it is, J, Gardiki. “ Bereshith
Rabbah (saith he2) renders ΓΤ Δ, Gardiki” Ορυ του). Ἴ
37 ‘The king of Gerar, Gen. xx. 2, with the Jerusalem
Targumist, is TT ΜΕΝΑ “The king of Arad.” Note the
affinity of Arad, Gerar, and Asecalon; and thence, unless I
am deceived, will grow some light, to illustrate those places
in the Holy Bible, where we meet with these names.
Ascalon® was distant from Jerusalem five hundred and
twenty furlongs: that is, sixty-five miles. Which is to be
understood of the older Ascalon. For Benjamin Tudelensis®
makes mention of a double Ascalon,—(this our) old, and the
τ English folio edition, vol. 11. p. x Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 180.
14. Υ Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 36. 3.
5 Bab. Avodah Zarah, fol. 11. 2. Z Arnch in 9954).
t Hieros. Avodah Zarah, fol. 30. a Joseph. de Bell. Jud. [11]. 2. 1.]
, ; b Benjamin. in Itinerario, pag.
u Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 71.1. mihi 80. [p. 51. Ed. L’Empereur. ]
Ascalon. Gerar. 90
new. For thus he writes: “ Thence” (from Azotus) ‘‘is new
Ascalon distant two parsze, or leagues” (that is, eight miles) ;
“ which Ezra, the priest, of blessed memory, built at the sea-
shore: and they called it, first, 7 °2°J2: now that is distant
from old Ascalon, now destroyed, four leagues.”
So that, from Azotus to Ascalon, of which we are speaking,
and of which alone the Holy Scripture speaks, were, by his
computation, four-and-twenty miles ; and by the computation
of Adrichomius, two hundred furlongs, that is, five-and-twenty
miles.
“Ten miles from Gaza” (says our countryman Sandes [San-
dys]°, an eyewitness), ‘“‘and near the sea, is placed Ascalon, now
of no note, anciently a venerable place to the heathen for the
temple of Dagon, and the festivals of Semiramis’s birthday.”
From Gaza to Azotus, Diodorus Siculus* being witness,
are two-hundred and seventy furlongs: which amount to four-
and-thirty miles: namely, from Gaza to Ascalon, ten miles,
and thence to Azotus four-and-twenty.
That is a common saying, ont ΠΡΟΜ. &e. “ Frome
Ascalon onward to the south, is the heathen country, and
Ascalon itself is reputed for a heathen country.” And yet
something of Ascalon was within the land of Israel. S733
ΠΡΟ Ἢ The apple-gardens or orchards, did bound the
land of Ascalon on that coast, which we have observed be-
fore. And yet, ‘“ when! R. Ismael Ben R. Josi, and Ben
Hakkaphar, were set over popu ah by the space of
Ascalon” (that is, when it was intrusted to them to judge
concerning the spaces or parts of Ascalon,—namely, what
were within the land, and what without, &ec.) “ they pro-
nounced it clean from the authority of R. Phinchasi Ben Jair,
who said, We went down to the corn-market of Ascalon, and
thence we received wheat, and going up into our city we
washed, and ate our Thruma;” i. 6. The portion of first-fruits
belonging to the priests. The greatest part of the city, if
not the whole, was esteemed, under the second Temple, to be
without the limits of the land: but some part, or at least the
apple-yards, and the places next adjacent, were within the land.
¢ Georg. Sandes’s [ Sandys’ | 4 Diod. Sicul. lib. xix.
Bravels,.p.ct52. {ἘΠ᾿ ΟΡ 1621. € R. Nissim in Gittin, cap. 1.
quoted loosely. | f Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 36. 2.
LIGHTFOOT, VOL. 1. D
94 Chorographical century.
Mention is made of a certain temple in Ascalon among
the “fives more famous temples,—viz. the temple of Bel in
Babylon, the temple of Nebo in Cursi, of Tiratha in Mapheg,
of Zeripha in Ascalon, and of Nishra in Arabia.”
And there is a story of a fast enjoined, because some sign
appeared of a blast of the corn in Asealon: ‘The elders
went down from Jerusalem into their cities, and enjoined a
fast, because so much of a blast was seen in Asealon, as the
space of the mouth of an oven may contain.”
But most famous of all is the story of the eighty women,
that were witches, hanged by Simeon Ben Shetach in one
and the same day. We will not think much to relate the
thing in the words of the Gemarists ':—‘* When as two dis-
ciples of the wise men in Ascalon were*k intent upon the
study of the law, one of them, at length dying, had no fune-
rals performed for him,—when yet a publican, dying at that
time, had. ‘To the student, that survived, are revealed the
joys of his saved companion, and likewise the punishments of
the damned publican.” yon 3 553 aby Ma - OD ΘΠ
ΣΌΣ wi Let the learned reader turn this clause into
English; unless my conjecture fail me, it savours of spite
and poison.. I should thus render it: ‘“ He saw Mary, the
daughter of Eh, in the shades, hung up by the kernels of the
breasts; and when he inquired, How long she was to suffer
those things? it was answered, Until Simon Ben Shetach
eame to supply her place. But, said he, for what crime! It
is answered, Therefore, because he sometime swore against
his soul, and said, If I shall ever become a prince, I will de-
stroy all wizards. But behold, he is become a prince, and
yet he hath not done this: for eighty women, that are witches,
lie hid in a cave at Asealon, and kill the world. Go, and tell
him, &c. He went to him, therefore, and related these things,
&e. Ona certain rainy day, therefore, having eighty young
men in company with him, he goes to the cave, knocks, pro-
fesses himself one of the bewitching society, and is let! in.
He sees them exercising their art. For, muttering certain
words together, one brings morsels of meat,—another, wine,
& Bab. Avodah Zarah, fol. 11.2. Sanhedr. fol. 44. 2. in Glossa.
h 'Taanith, cap. 3. hal. 6. k English folio edition, vol.ii. p.15.
i Mieros, Sanhedr. fol. 23. 3. Bab. 1 Leusden’s edition, vol, ii. p. 181.
Jabnek. Jamnia. 35
—another, boiled flesh, &c. But what can you do, say they !
Saith he, I will twice utter my voice, and I will bring in eighty
youths handsomely habited, themselves merry, and shall make
you so. They say to him, Such we would have. He utters
his voice the first time, and the young men put on their clean
clothes” (free from the rains, for they had carried them with
them covered and safe in certain vessels for the same purpose).
“Crying out the second time, in they all come: and a sign
being given, that each man should lift up from the earth one
woman (for so their magical power would perish), he said to
her which had brought the morsels, Bring hither now the
morsels ; but she brought them not. Therefore, said he,
Carry her away to the gallows. Bring wine, but she
brought it not; Carry her also away, saith he, to hanging.
And so it was done with them all. Hence is the tradition,
Simeon Ben Shetach hung eighty women in Ascalon. But
they do not judge two persons in the same day: but this
he did out of the necessity of the time.” Where the Gloss
thus ; “ He was compelled to do this, because the women of
Israel had very much broke out into witchcraft. Therefore,
he made a hedge to the time, and hanged them, to expose
the thing publicly. And this in one and the same day, that
their kindred might no way conspire to deliver them.”
CHAP. XV.
Jabneh. Jannia.
Tue word ‘Jabneh’ is passed into ‘ Jamnia’ by the same
change of 1 (Mem) and 3 (Beth,) as the lake ‘Samochonitis,’ in
the Jerusalem writers, is )3%90,—in the Babylonian, is \D1D.
Pliny doth dispose the towns here in this order ;—“* Azotus,
the two Jamnes, Joppe.”—R. Benjamin, in the order back-
ward, thus,—“ Joppah, Jabneh, Azotus.” That is Jabneh
with this author, that is Jamnia with the other.
A remembrance of this place is in 2 Chron. xxvi.6: but
the chief fame of it is for the Sanhedrim, that was placed
there, both before the destruction of Jerusalem and after.
Rabban Gamaliel™, St. Paul’s master, first presided there.
Under® whom came forth that cursed form of prayer, which
m Juchas. fol. 21.1. " Hieros. Taanith, fol. 65. 3.
D2
90 Chorographical century.
they called O° MIVA “ The prayer against heretics,”
composed by Samuel the Little, who died before the destruc-
tion of the city. Gamaliel died eighteen years before the
Temple was destroyed; and his son Rabban Simeon suc-
ceeded him °, who perished with the city.
Jerusalem being destroyed, Rabban JochananP Ben Zaceai
obtained of Titus the conqueror, that he might still receive
and retain the Sanhedrim of Jabneh: which being granted
by him, Jochanan himself was first president there ; and after
him, Rabban Gamaliel the second: and after him, R. Akibah.
And this place was famous above all the other universities,
except only the latest of all,—viz. Tiberias: so that O75
ma. “The vineyard of Jabneh” became a proverb. TW
33 Mw ΤΥ ΘΠ" “ Ford there they sat in order,
as a vineyard.” And it is reported’, “ that there were there
three hundred classes of scholars,—or, at least, eighty.”
How long time Rabban Jochanan sat here, is doubted.
Theres are some, who attribute to him two years only ;
and others" five: with whom we consent. This Rabban
Jochanan I very much suspect to be the same with that
John, mentioned Acts iv. 6. Omitting those things, which
were done by him, while he remained at Jabneh,—let me
produce his dying words, as they are recited by his friends :
“ When* Rabban Jochanan Ben Zaccai now lay languishing,
his scholars came to visit him: whom he seeing began to
weep. To whom they said, ‘O thou light of Israel, thou
right-hand pillar, thou strong hammer, whence are those
tears?’ ‘To whom he replied, ‘ If men were about to carry me
before a king of flesh and blood, who to-day is here, and to-
morrow is in his grave,—if he were angry with me, his anger
is not everlasting; if he should cast me into bonds, his bonds
are not eternal; if he should kill me, his killing would not be
eternal: and I might perhaps pacify him with words, or
soften him with a gift. But they are ready to lead me before
the King of kings, the Lord, holy and blessed, who lives and
n [See Buxtorf Lex. Talm., τ Hieros. Taanith, fol. 67. 4.
under τού. col. 2441 and jn. col. S English folio edition, vol. ii.
1201. ] p- τύ.
o Juchas. fol. 57. 1. t See Juchasin, fol. 20, 21.
«. 1" ~ τῇ
P Avoth R. Nathan, cap. 4. * 'Tsemach David.
4 Jevamoth, cap. 8. and R. Sol. x Bab. Beracoth, fol. 28. 2.
ibid.
Jabneh. Jamnia. on
lasts for ever, and for ever and ever; who if he be angry
with me, his anger is eternal; if he bind me, his bond is
eternal; if he kill me, his killing is eternal; and whom I
cannot either appease with words, or soften with a gift. And
moreover, there are two ways before me, one to paradise,
another to hell; and I know not which way they will lead me.
Should I not therefore weep?’” Ah! the miserable and
fainting confidence of a Pharisee in death!
Rabban Gamaliel of Jabneh, a busy and severe man, suc-
ceeded Jochanan. Beingy to be slain with his father, Rab-
ban Simeon,—by the intercession of Rabban Jochanan he
was delivered. Being” also sought for to be slain, when
Turnus Rufus (in Josephus’, Τερέντιος Ῥοῦφος, Terentius
Rufus) ploughed up the floor of the Temple, he was delivered
by a way scarcely credible. Sitting in Jabneh he removed
R. Akibah, head at that time of the school of Lydda, from
his headship; and¢ he at last was removed from his, and
over him was placed R. Eleazar Ben Azarias. R. Akibah
succeeded him, and sat forty years, and died a fool, being
deceived4 by Ben Cozba, and slain with him: and the univer-
sity was removed from Jabneh to Usha.
“ Jabneh stands two parse” (that is, eight miles) “ from
Azotus: and was at last called pores Ivelyn.’ They are
the words of Benjamin, in his Itinerary. [p. 51.]
CHAP. XVI.
Lydda. 95
Λύδδα κώμη, πόλεως TO μέγεθος οὐκ ἀποδέουσα' “ Lydda® was
a village, not yielding to a city in greatness.”
Concerning its situation, and distance from Jerusalem, the
Misna hath these words: “ ‘yay O73 The vineyard of four
years” (that is, the fruit of a vineyard now of four years’
growth; for, for the first three years, they were trees, as it
were, not circumcised) “was brought to Jerusalem, in the
space of a day’s journcy’on every side. Now these were the
bounds of it; DWI ta) nis Elath on the south; narpy
y Juchas. f. 53. 2. 4 Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 182.
Bab. Taanith, fol. 29. τ. e Joseph. Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 5.
* Joseph. de Bell. [vii. 2. 2.] τ 2
> Rosh Hashanah, c. 1. hal. 7. Γ Maasar Sheni, cap. 5. hal, 2.
© Hieros. Taanith, fol. 67. 4.
98 Chorographical century.
PERT pd Acrabatta on the north ; Ay. PS ab Lydda
on the west; and Jordan on the east.” The Gloss; ‘ The
wise men appointed, that the second tenth of the fruits,
growing within the space of a day’s journey from Jerusalem,
should be carried thither to be eaten, and should not be
redeemed: wy5 ID &e. That the streets of Jerusalem
might be crowned with fruits.”
When you consider this distance, you may well wonder
what that means, which is almost become a proverb, “ The 8
women of Lydda knead their dough, go up to the Temple,
pray, and come back, before it be leavened.” Not that the
distance of the places is made less; but that hence may be
shewn, that no disadvantage accrued to these women, who
paid their vows and performed their religion.
T very much wonder, that the authors of the maps have
held Lod and Lydda for two towns; Lod not far from Jordan
and Jericho; Lydda not far from the Mediterranean sea. A
Jew, or one versed in Jewish affairs, will laugh at these
things; when Lod and Lydda have no difference at all
between them,—unless that that is Hebrew.—this, Greek.
When the Sanhedrim sat in Jabneh, there flourished emi-
nent schools in Lydda. Yea, Lydda had her schools and
her learned men, when the university was gone away into
Galilee, and Jabneh lamented her loss of scholars.
There R. Akibah bore the headship of the school, removed,
as I said before, from his government by Rabban Gamaliel,
“ because he detained at Lydda more than forty pair of
men travelling” (towards Jabneh) “ to give their testimony to
the Sanhedrim concerning the new moon; and suffered them
not to go forwards.”
Gamaliel being dead, or rather removed,—when R. Akibah
was head in Jabneh, R. Tarphon was rector of the school
of Lydda, whom you haye sometimes disputing with R. Aki-
bah, but at last yielding to him with this commendation ;
‘He that separates himself from you, is as if he separated
himself from his own life.”
We read* of five elders teaching and erring before Tar-
ξ Gemar. Hieros. in Maasar 1 English folio edition, vol. ii.
Sheni, in the place above. oo ye
7
Rosh Hashanah, cap. 1. hal. 7. k Hieros, Jom Tobh, fol. 62. τ.
Lydda. 39
phon at Lydda. We read! also of a fast enjoined at Lydda
for the obtaining of rain, and Tarphon the moderator of the
solemnity. The stories of this place are infinite; we will
gather a few.
Helena™ the queen celebrated the feast of tabernacles at
Lydda.
R. Eliezar™ and R. Joshua were sometime present in the
same place at the feast of dedication: but being not enough
satisfied concerning the fast at that time enjoined, one went
to the bath,—the other, to the barber’s shop.
Here°® it was, that Ben Satdah was surprised and taken,
and brought before the Sanhedrim, and stoned.
There is also very frequent mention of Papus and Lulienus,
brethren, slain at Lydda by the Roman kingdom: “'TheP day
y7°U is the day wherein Lulienus and Papus were slain.” {714
with the Jerusalem writers is DJJ. VW with the Babylonian :
who relate. that these brethren were slain ΝΕ) 1 72, “ind Lao-
dicea,” as one would guess. But ΤῊ, saith the Gloss, “ is
Lydda: fort ay5 7:77, the slain of Lydda are every where
mentioned.—And these (saith the Gloss) were put to death
for the king’s daughter, who was found slain; and there was
a rumour the Jews had killed her. When, therefore, a sharp
decree was decreed against the Jews, these two stood forth,
and delivered Israel. For they said, We slew her; therefore,
the king put them only to death.”
Sinces it was not lawful to intercalate the year any where
but in Judea, “at great many went to Lydda out of the school
of the Rabbi” (Judah Haccodesh, viz. out of Galilee), “ that
they might intercalate: but a certain evil eye met them, and
they all died together. After that, they removed the inter-
calation of the year out of Judea into Galilee.” And a little
after: “ R. Jeremiah asked before R. Zeira, Is not Lydda a
part of Judea? Yes, saith he. Wherefore, then, do they not
transact the intercalation of the year there!—Because they
are obstinate, and unskilful in the law.”
1 Taanith, cap. 111. hal. 14. a Bab. Taanith, fol. 18. 2.
m Hieros. Succah, fol. 51. 4. r See Bab. in Bathra, fol. το. 2.
n Td. Nedarim, fol. 40. 4. s Maim. in Kiddush. Hodesh,
© Td. Sanhedr. fol. 52. 4. cap. il.
P Hieros. Taanith, fol. 66. 1. et t Heros, Sanhedr. fol. 18. 3.
Megil. fol. 70. 3.
40 Chorographical century.
« Lydda is a part of Judea.” Let some maps mark this,
which have placed a certain Lod, which never was any where,
not far from Jericho, as" was said before; because Lod, in
the land of Benjamin, is brought in, Neh. xi. 35: but they
set Lydda far beyond the bounds of Judea in the land of
Kphraim.
“ Koshab Bar Ulla* sometime got away to Lydda to Rabbi
Josua Ben Levi, dwelling there, when he fled from the Ro-
mans. The Romans pursued him, and besieged the city.
Unless you deliver him to us, say they, we will destroy the
city. R. Josua Ben Levi persuaded him, and he was de-
livered to the Romans.”
I might produce numberless things celebrating the name
of Lydda; such as, ba ΘΝ I mo>y, “They chamber of
Beth-Arum in Lydda.” ba mad roa ney “ 'Thez cham-
ber of Beth-lebaza in Lydda.” nba In] ΤῚΣ nvby “'The®
chamber of Beth-Nethaza in Lydda.”—We suppose these
were schools.
I might mention very many names of Rabbins residing at
Lydda, besides those whom I have remembered before: such
are, R. Chama Bar Chanina», and R. Hoshaia with him.
R. Ilai‘c, and R. Eliezer; and others, who are vulgarly called
the Southern, in the sense we produced before. Concerning
R. Josua Ben Levi, by name, the author of Juchasin hath
these words, 1 8 OWI WNDw» “ His ἃ habitation, or college,
was in the south of the land of Israel.””. He means Lydda.
R. Eliezer, dying at Czesarea, desired to be buried at
Lydda, whom R. Akibah bewailed as well with blood as
tears. ‘ Fore when he met his hearse betwixt Czesarea and
Lydda, he beat himself in that manner, that blood flowed
down upon the earth. Lamenting, thus he spoke,—O my
father, my father, the chariot and horsemen of Israel. I
have much money, but I want a moneyer, to change 10. The
Gloss is this, “ I have very many questions; but now there
is no man, to whom I may propound them.”
There is a place between Jamnia and Lydda, which was
u Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 183. » Hieros. Shekalim, fol. 49. 2.
x Id. Trumoth, fol. 46. 2. ¢ Td. Succah, fol. 53. 1.
y Id. Shekal. fol. 30. 2. 4 Juchas. fol. 92. 1.
4 Id. Sheviith, fol. 35.1. © Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 68. τ.
a Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 74.1.
Sharon. Caphar Lodim. 41
called pyya Bekiin; of which there is this mention: “ ἢ.
Jochanan Ben Brucha, and R. Eliezer the blind, travelling
from Jabneh to Lyddae, met R. Josua py. in Bekiin,” &e.
From Jamnia to Joppe (according to Benjamin, in his
Itinerary [p. 51]) are MINOW Δ three leagues, or parse:
᾿Εγγὺς δὲ ἣν Λύδδη τῇ Ἰόππῃ, “ Now Lydda was nigh to Joppa,”
Acts ix. 38.
CHAP. XV IEt
Sharon. Caphar Lodim. ond apo. The Village of those
of Lydda.
Berween Lydda and the sea, a spacious valley runs out,
here and there widely spreading itself, and sprinkled with
villages. The holy page of the New Testament [Acts ix. 35.]
ealls it Saron, τὸν Sdpwva: and that of the Old calls the whole,
perhaps, or some part of it, ‘ the plain of Ono,’ Neh. vi. 2, xi. 35,
1 Chron. viii. 12.
The word yw denotes a champaign pasture country, from
mw to send forth, sending forth cattles; one beyond Jordan,
1 Chron. v. 16; and this our Sharon.
The wine of Sharon is of great fame, with» which they
mixed two parts water: and remarkable is that they say
concerning the houses of Sharon. R. Lazar saithi, “ He
that builds a brick house in Sharon, let him not return
back :” which was allowed to others, Deut. xx. 5,—namely,
that they should return back from the war, if they had built
a new house, and it were not yet dedicated. ‘“ But * the men
of Sharon withdrew not themselves back” (they are the words
of the Jerusalem Gamara), “ because they repaired their
houses within seven years: and the chief priest also prayed
for them on the day of expiation, that their house might not
become their graves.” The Gloss upon the Babylonian Tal-
mud thus; ‘Sharon was the name of a place, whose ground
was not fit for bricks: and therefore, they often repaired
their houses within seven years.”
Among the villages, scattered up and down in this pleasant
vale, we meet with Caphar Lodim, between Lydda and the
sea. There is mention of it in the book Gittin, in the very
© Hieros. Chagigah, fol. 75. 4. from Ὁ».
f English folio edition, vol.i1. p.18 h Bale Shab. fol. 77.1.
& [Gesenius and First. consider i Sotah, cap. viii. hal. 7.
}inw another form of ys1w, @ plain, k Hieros. ibid. fol. 23. 1.
42 Chorographical century.
beginning: ‘ He! that brings a bill of divorce from a heathen
country is bound to witness thus,—This bill was written I
being present, and was sealed I being present. R. Eleazar
saith, Yea, he that brings it from Caphar Lodim to Lydda :”
R. Nissim, explaining the place, saith thus ; ‘“ Caphar Lodim
was without the land of Israel, neighbour to Lydda, which
was within [the land], and partook of its name, because some
people of Lydda were always present there.”
CHAP. XVIII.m
Caphar Tebi. “Δ D5.
Awnp this village neighboured upon Lydda, situate on the
east of it. ‘“ R. Eleazar™ had a vineyard of four years’
growth ; "1% 55 Iw. 35 ΓΞ on the east of Lydda,
near Caphar Tebi.” Of it there is this mention also :—
“ They Ὁ sometime brought a chest full of bones from
Caphar Tebi, and they placed it openly in the entrance to
Lydda. Tudrus the physician and the rest of the physicians
go forth’’—(namely, that they might judge, whether they
were the bones of men or no; and thereby, whether they
were to be esteemed clean or unclean). ‘ Tudrus said, Here
is neither the backbone nor the skull of a man. They said,
therefore, Since here are some, who reckon them clean, others
that hold them unclean, let the matter be decided by votes.
R. Akibah began, and he pronounced them clean, &e.”
The name 2%) Ζεδὲ, given to this village, seems to be de-
rived from the Aids [92%, Heb.] skipping up and down in
this fruitful vale. The word also gave name to men; and that,
as it seems, with some delight. The woman Tabitha [Ταβιθὰ
ἡ διερμηνευομένη λέγεται Aopxds] is of eternal memory, Acts
ix. [36]; and, in the pages of the Talmudists, ‘“ TebiP the
servant of Rabban Gamaliel; and ‘Tabitha’ his maid-servant.
Yea, every maid-servant of his was called, ΣΙ NON,
Mother Tabitha,—and every man-servant, "XY NIN Father
Tebi.”
! Gittin, cap. i. hal. 1. © Hieros. Berac. fol. 3. 1.
m Leusden’s edition, vol.il. p. 184. P Berac. cap. ii. hal. 7.
n Bab. Rosh Hash. fol. 13. 2. 4 Hieros. Nidda, fol. 49. 4.
Yorthern coast of Judea. Beth-horon. 43
CHA P. axix.*
The northern coast of Judea. Beth-horon.
Tuts coast is marked out Josh. xviii. 12; where, at ver. 14,
are very many versions to be corrected, which render Ὁ the
sea; such are, the Syriac, the Seventy, the Vulgar, the
Italian, ours, &c.: whence ariseth a sense of insuperable
difficulty to a chorographical eye: when it should, indeed,
be rendered of the west, as the Chaldee, Arabic, R. Solomon,
&e. rightly do.
We read of a double Beth-horon in the Old Testament,
but one only under the second Temple. This in Josephus §
is Βαιθωρὼ, and, according to himt, stood a hundred fur-
longs, or thereabouts, from Jerusalem,—viz. twelve miles and
a half.
At that place that great Canaanitish army perished, Josh.
x. not with hail (the Jews being judges), which presently
melted,—but with stones, which hardened, and lasted unto
all following ages. Hence is that, ‘“‘ Whosoever" shall see
the place, where the Israelites passed through the sea, where
they passed through Jordan, where they passed by the rivers
of Arnon, or those great stones qmaids 35), in the going
down of Beth-horon,—is bound to bless.”
They believe, in the same place, also, the army of Senna-
cherib fell. For so the Gloss upon the words before spoken,
“The * going down of Beth-horon was the place where the
army of Sennacherib fell.” e
This was a highway. Josephus, in the place above cited,
relating a story of one Stephen, a servant of Cesar, who
suffered hardly by robbers in this place, saith, that it was
κατὰ τὴν Βαιθωρὼ δημοσίαν 6ddv, “in the public way of Beth-
horon ,”—namely, in the king’s highway, which goes from
Jerusalem to Czesarea.
Yet the passage and ascent here was very strait; which
the Talmudists do thus describe: “ΠΥ two camels go up
together in the ascent of Beth-horon, both fall.” The Gloss,
τ English folio edition, vol. ii. u Bab. Berae. fol. 54. 1.
p. 19 x Gloss. ibid. fol. 2.
5 ΘΝ de Bell. [ii. 12. 2.] y Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 32. 2.
t Idem. Antiq. [xx. 5. 4.]
44 Chorographical century.
“The ascent of Beth-horon was a strait place ; nor was there
room to bend to the right hand or to the left.”
The story of Cestius, the Roman captain, in Josephus, is
sad, but not unseasonable in this place. Hez intrenched
against Jerusalem, in a place called the Scope (ἐπὶ τοῦ καλου-
μένου Σκοποῦ), on the north part of the city (which we shall
show hereafter): and being at length forced by the Jews to
retreat, μόγις εἰς Γαβαὼ κατήντησαν ἐπὶ τὸ πρότερον στρατόπε-
δον, “he came near to Gabaon, to his former camp.” And
being pressed farther by them, he betook himself to Beth-
horon ; Προῆγε τὴν δύναμιν ἐπὶ Βαιθώρας, “ He led his forces
to Beth-horon.”
“ But the Jews, whilst he marched along places where
there was room, did not much press him; Συνειληθέντων δὲ
εἰς κατὰ στενὰ κατάβασιν" but they getting before the Romans
who were shut up within the straits of the descent (of Beth-
horon), stopped them from going out: others thrust them
that came in the rear down into the valley. And the whole
multitude being spread ὑπὲρ τὸν αὐχένα τῆς 6d00, at the
opening of the way, covered the army with their darts.”
Behold! the way leading from Jerusalem to Beth-horon:—
I. From the city to Seopo (D.D 1% of which we shall speak
afterward), is seven furlongs. For so Josephus, Διέχει δὲ
ἑπτὰ τῆς πόλεως σταδίους.
II. From Scopo to Gabao, or Geba, forty-three furlongs.
For Gabao was distant from Jerusalem, the same J osephus
relating it, fifty furlong’,—that is, six miles and more.
III. From Geba to Beth-horon fifty furlongs, or there-
abouts. And about Beth-horon was a very great roughness
of hills, and a very narrow passage.
CHAP. XXi
Beth-el. Beth-aven.
Josrruus thus describes the land of Benjamin; Βενιαμίται Ὁ
SS Ν 7 Uae 9. , ~ ” , Ν Ν “ δ
ὃε τὴν πὸ Ἰορδάνου ποταμοῦ ἔλαχον ἄχρι θαλάσσης μὲν τὸ μῆκος
* Joseph. de Bello, lib. ii. cap.19. Ρ. 20.
[ Hudson, p. 1102. lin. 21.] fii. 10. > Antiq. lib. v. cap. τ. [ Hudson,
» 5: p. 188. 1. 8.] [v. 1. 22.]
a English folio edition, vol. ii.
Beth-el. Beth-aven. 45
τὸ δὲ πλάτος, Ἱεροσολύμοις ὁριζομένην, καὶ Βεθήλοις" “ The
Benjamites’ portion of land was from the river Jordan to the
sea, in length: in breadth, it was bounded by Jerusalem and
_ Beth-el.’’ Let these last words be marked, “‘ The breadth of
the land of Benjamin was bounded by Jerusalem and
Beth-el.”. May we not justly conclude, from these words,
that Jerusalem and Beth-el were opposite, as it were, in a
right line? But if you look upon the maps, there are some
that separate these by a very large tract of land, and make
them bend and slope from one another.
Beth-el heretofore was Luz: of which the Rabbins upon
Judg. i. 23, &c. do not a little trifle. Sometimes it is called
Beth-aven. So the Talmudists; “That town, which some-
times was called Beth-el, afterward was called Beth-aven.”
And the Chaldee upon Hos. iv.15: Sxmeab ppon sb
“Go not up to Beth-el;” for the Hebrew, NS MA YA Ors
“6 not up to Beth-aven.” So also chap. x. 5, 8. Not that
there was not another town, named Beth-aven (see Josh.
XVili.12, 13): but that Beth-el too deservedly bore the re-
proach of that name, in the same manner as Jerusalem bore
the name of Sodom, Isa. 1. 10.
It is said of Deborah, that she lived “ between Ramah
and Beth-el in mount Ephraim,” Judg. iv. 5: where the
Targum thus; “She had gardens in Ramatha, olive-trees
making oil in the valley, a house of watering in Beth-el.”
Not that Beth-el properly was in the hill-country of Ephraim,
since that town stood upon the very boundaries of Judea;
but that the dwelling of Deborah was at the beginning of
that hill-country, a valley running between that hill-country
and those boundaries. Beth-el itself was situate in a hilly
country, Josh. xvi.1; which yet one would scarcely call the
hill-country of Ephraim (since there was a time, when Beth-el
and her towns belonged to Judea, 2 Chron. xiii. 19: hence
the idolatry of those of Judah is sometimes mixed with the
Ephraimites’, of which they hear often enough from the pro-
phets) ; but it was a certain hilly place, running out between
Judea and the land of Ephraim: see Josh. xviii. 12.
On the east of Beth-el heretofore was Hai, Gen. xii. 8,
¢ Hieros. Shab. fol. 11. 4. et Avod. Zar. fol. 43. 3.
40 Chorographical century.
Josh. viii. g, &e. But upon the very first entrance almost of
Israel into the land of promise, it became thenceforth of no
name, being reduced into eternal ashes by Joshua. The town
Beth-aven was not far from it, Josh. vil. 2, which gave name
to the wilderness adjacent, Josh. xvii. 12. In which we sup-
pose Ephraim stood, 2 Chron. xiii. 1g. Which Ephraim, in
the New Testament, is called χώρα ἐγγὺς τῆς ἐρήμου, “ the
region near the wilderness,” John xi. 54; concerning which
we shall speak afterward.
CHA: PP: ΧΙ.
Jerusalem.
Tue first name of this city was Shalem, Gen. xiv. 18,
Psalm Ixxvi. 2, and it is still retained in the writing DOW,
however it is read Jerushalaim.
“ Thed name of that place is Jehovah-jireh. Abraham
called the place Jireh ; Shem called it Shalem. Saith God,
If I shall call it Jireh, it will displease Shem the Just; if I
shall call it Shalem, it will displease Abraham the Just. I
will therefore put that name upon it which was put upon it
by both, pour oow meer Jireh, Shalem—Jerusalem.”—
“ Wee do not, therefore, put in Jod between the letters
Lamed and Mem in the word Jerusalem, that the word ob
Shalem may be retained.”
By the computation of Aben Ezra, it is situate in the
three-and-thirtieth degree of latitude. For so he speaks,
paws amy ἄς. “ Thef latitude of Egypt is less than
thirty degrees. pbuna ὩΠΠΥ &e. And the latitude of
Jerusalem is three-and-thirty degrees.”
Jerusalemg was not divided among the tribes): for the
tradition is, That houses are not hired out at Jerusalem,
because they were no man’s own. R. Eleazar Bar Zadok
said, Nor beds also. Therefore, the master of the family
received the skins of the sacrifices from the guests. Abai
saith, You may learn this from hence, That it is a custom,
that a man leave his earthen jug, and also the skin of his
d Beresh. Rabba, sect. ix. See & English folio edition, vol. ii.
Aruch in Ὁ 21:51." ἢ. 2
€ Gloss. in Bab. T'aanith, fol. 16.1. h Bab. Joma, fol. 12. 1. et Me-
f Ab. Ezra in Num. ΧΙ. gillah, fol. 26. τ.
Jerusalem. 47
sacrifices, to his host.” The Gloss: ‘ The inhabitants of
Jerusalem did not let out their houses at a price to those that
came to the feasts, but granted them to them gratis.” Com-
pare Matt. xxvi.17.
Nevertheless, the city was divided between the tribe of
Judah and Benjamin, and the distinguishing line went
through the very court of the Temple: “ Whati was in the
lot of Judah? The mountain of the Temple, the Chambers of
them that kept it, the Courts. And what in the lot of Ben-
jamin? The Porch of the Temple, and the Temple, and the
Holy of Holies. And a line went out of the lot of Judah,
and passed on into the lot of Benjamin, and in it was the
altar built.” The Gloss; ‘The whole breadth of the outmost
Court, on the east part, the whole Court of the Women, the
whole Court of Israel, eleven cubits of the Court of the
Priests” (these were within the lot of Judah). “ From
thence the altar, and thenceforward to the west, is within the
lot of Benjamin.”
In so exact distinction were these lots observed, that * the
south-east corner of the altar had no foundation ; because
that small part was! in the portion of Judah, when the whole
altar ought to have been within the portion of Benjamin.
“ Jerusalem ™ was holy above other cities, girt with walls,
because in it they ate the lighter holy things, and the second
tithe. These also are those things which are spoken of
Jerusalem. They do not permit a dead body to remain a
night in it: they do not carry the bones of a dead body
through it: they do not let out houses in it: in it they do
not let out a place to a proselyte mhabitant (AWN Δ) : in it
they do not allow a sepulchre, except the sepulchres of the
house of David, and the sepulchre of Huldah the prophetess ;
which were there from the days of the former prophets: nor
in it do they suffer a dunghill by reason of creeping things ;
nor do they bring out of it into the streets scaffolds set up
against the walls by reason of defilement : nor in it do they
make chimneys, by reason of the smoke: nor do they nourish
cocks in it for the sake of the holy things: nor do the priests
i Bab. in the place above. 1 Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 186.
k Ibid. fol. 15. a. in Gloss. m Maimon. in Beth Habbech. c. 7.
48 Chorographical century.
nourish cocks throughout the whole land of Israel, for the
sake of purity: nor is there in it a house for shutting out
suspected of the leprosy: nor is it polluted with leprosy: nor
is it become any way a city to be cursed for idolatry,” &e.
Ὁ Never® did serpent or scorpion harm any one within
Jerusalem. Nor did ever any one say to his neighbour,
‘The place wherein I am entertained at Jerusalem is too
strait for me.’”
“ There® is no anathema at Jerusalem, nor hath any man
stumbled. Nor hath a fire or a ruin happened there: nor
hath any one said to his neighbour, ‘ I found not a hearth to
roast my passover, or ‘ I found not a bed to lie on’ In it
they do not plant trees, except gardens of roses, which were
there from the days of the former prophets: they do not
nourish in it peacocks, or cocks, much less hogs,” Se.
The fathers of the traditionsP give this reason, why they
do not allow gardens in the city: “ They make no gardens
or paradises in Jerusalem, NTTD DOWD because of the
stink.” The Gloss, “ Because of the stink from weeds, which
are thrown out; and it is a custom to dung gardens, and
from thence comes a stink.”
The same Gloss, in the same place, gives this reason also,
why they might not keep cocks: “It is also forbidden the
Israelites to keep cocks in Jerusalem” (the priests may no
where do it), “ because of the holy things. For there they
have eaten the flesh of the peace-offerings, and thank-offer-
ings. And it is customary for dunghill cocks to serape dung-
hills, and thence perhaps they might rake up the bones of
creeping things; whence those holy things, which are to be
eaten, might be polluted.”
Gardens without the city were very frequent, and they
stretching out a good way from the very walls of the city.
Hence that in Josephus 4, concerning the hazard Titus ran,
whilst he rode about the city to spy it. To δὲ, πρόσω μὲν
ἦν χωρεῖν ἀδύνατον, ἐκτετάφρευτο yap ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους περὶ Tas
κηπείας ἅπαντα, κήποις τε ἐπικαρσίοις καὶ πολλοῖς ἕρκεσι διειλημ-
neva’ “ It was impossible for him to go forward; for all
n Avoth, cap. v. hal. 5. 4 De Bello, lib. v. cap. 7. [Hud-
© Avoth, R. Nathan, fol. 9. 1. son, p. 1215. 1. 45.] [v. 2. 2.]
P Bava Kama, cap. 7. hal. ult.
Jerusalem. 49
things from the walls were fenced up with deep ditches for
the gardening, and gardens lay cross, and many walls, that
parted them.”
The Talmudists* relate also these wonders of the Tem-
ple: “ Ten miracles were done for our fathers in the sanc-
tuary. No woman ever miscarried by the smell of the holy
flesh; nor did the holy flesh ever stink, or breed worms;
nor was there ever seen ἣν in the house for place] for slaugh-
ter; nor did ever the gonorrhcea happen to the high-priest
on the day of expiation; nor rains put out the fire of the
altar; nor the wind prevail over the pillar of smoke; nor
was any profane thing found in the sheaf of first-fruits, or
the two loaves (of the high-prizst), or in the show-bread.
MN ON Os OTM y They stood (in the Court)
crowded” (the Gloss explains it thus, ‘ They did so press
one another by reason of the multitude, that their feet scarcely
touched the ground”); “but when they worshipped, they had
room enough.” &e.
mbes ab: coo, « Allt Jerusalem was Carmelith,
because it was like a common court.” What Carmdith is,
the Lexicons will teach us. and the Gemarists in the tract
Shabbath«; “ There are four capacities of the sabbath” (or
respects of places, as to walking on the sabbath), “ public,
private, Carmelith, and covered lobbies. R. Chaijah saith,
Carmelith is a place, neither public nor private. R. Jissa, in
the name of R. Jochanan, saith, Carmelith is as the shop of
Bar Justini,” &e.
ὭΣΤ and sabiny are words opposed, as a ‘countryntan’
and a “ citizen. —“ R. Ismael saith*, 710 ΡΟ NAT
SO 70ND A countryman, or a villager, who takes a field
from a man of Jerusalem, the second tenth belongs to the
Jerusalem man. But the wise men say, The countryman
may go up to Jerusalem, and eat it there.” The Gloss, ΓΤ
&e. “ΧΑ Kartani is one of those that dwell in villages.”
τ Avoth, in the place above. Ὁ Hieros. Shab. fol. 2. 4.
53 English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 22. = Demai, cap. vi. hal. a.
£ Gloss. in Erubhin, f. ror. 1.
LIGHTFOOT, VOL. I. E
50 Chorographical century.
CHAP. ἈΟΌΙΤ'
The parts of the City. Sion. “Ave πόλις, the Upper City:
which was on the north part.
Tuere is one who asserts Jerusalem to stand on seven
hills ; but whether upon a reason more light, or more obscure,
is not easy to say. “The whale showed Jonah (saith hey)
the Temple of the Lord, as it is said, ‘I went down to the
bottom of the mountains:’ whence we learn that Jerusalem
was seated upon seven mountains.” One may sooner almost
prove the thing itself, than approve of his argument. Let
him enjoy his argument to himself; we must fetch the situa-
tion elsewhere.
Πόλις μὲν ὑπὲρ δύο λόφων ἀντιπρόσωπος ἔκτιστο. “ The city
1056 18 (saith Josephus) was built upon two hills, divided with
a valley between, whereby, in an opposite aspect, it viewed
itself; in which valley the buildings, meeting, ended.”
Τῶν δὲ λόφων, ὁ μὲν THY ἄνω πόλιν ἔχων, &e. “ OF these
hills, that, which contained the Upper City was by far the
higher, and more stretched out in length: and because it
was very well fortified, it was called by king David The
Castle: ἡ δὲ ἄνω ἀγορὰ πρὸς ἡμῶν, but by us it is called ‘ the
Upper Town.’”
“Atepos δὲ, 6 καλούμενος Ακρα, kal τὴν κάτω πόλιν ὑφεστὼς,
&e. ‘“ But the other, which was called Acra, bearing on it
the lower town, was steep on both sides.”
“ Against this was a third hill [J/Zoriah}, lower than Acra,
and disjoined from it by a broad valley. But when the As-
moneans reigned, they filled up the valley, desiring that the
Temple might touch the city ; and they took the top of Acra
lower, that the Temple might overlook it.”
Bezetha and Ophel were other little hills also: of which
in their place, when we shall first have taken a view of these
two, Sion and Acra, and the situation of each.
It is an old dispute, and lasts to this day, whether Sion or
Jerusalem lay on the north part of the city. We place Sion
on the north, convinced by these reasons :—
I. Psal. xlviii. 2: pp BBP) ws ὝΤ “The joy of the
Υ Tanch. fol. 52. 3. [Hudson, p. 1221, 1. 36.) _
z Joseph. de Bello, [v. 4. 1.] a Teusden’s edition, vol, ii, p. 187.
Eminent buildings in Sion. 51
whole earth is mount Sion, on the north side.” Where Aben
Ezra hath this note ; obynsy Pos. ΠΕ “Mount Sion is on
the north side of Jerusalem :” and Lyranus, “ Mount Sion is
in the north part of Jerusalem.” The Seventy, “Opn Σιῶν τὰ
πλευρὰ τοῦ βορρᾶ" ‘The mountains of Sion on the sides of the
north.”
Οὔρεά τοι Σιῶνος ἀπὸ πλευρῆς Bopedo.
Sion’s fair hills stand on cold Boreas’ coast.
Apollinar. [Metaphr. Ps. |
11. When the prophet Ezekiel takes a prospect of the new
Jerusalem in a vision,—he saith, that he stood upon “ a very
high mountain, near which was, as it were, the building of
a city on the south,” Ezek. xl. 2. On which place Kimehi
thus; “ He placed me upon a very lofty mountain. That
mountain was the Mount of the Temple: for the Temple was
to be built in a mountain, as before. And the city Jerusalem
is near it on the south.” And Lyranus again, after the re-
citing the explication of some upon that verse, and his re-
jecting it; ‘‘ And therefore (saith he) the Hebrews say, and
better, as it seems, that the prophet saw two things,—namely,
the city and the Temple,—and that the Temple was in the
north part,—but the city in the south part.”
Behold! reader, Zion on the north part in the Psalmist,
and the city on the south part in the prophet !
Thee things which make for this in Josephus are various,
and plain enough ; which nevertheless we cannot frame into
arguments, before the buildings of better note in Sion, or in
the Upper City, be viewed :—of which the reader must be
mindful; namely, that the name of Sion, after the return out
of Babylon, was grown into disuse,—but the more vulgar
Was, τῆς ἄνω ἀγορᾶς, the Upper Town.
CHAP. XXII.
The buildings of more eminent note in Sion.
We shall first take knowledge of the buildings themselves,
—and then, as much as we may, of their situation.
I. The ‘ king’s court’ claims the first place in our view.
Concerning which are those words¢, Ἔπειτα πρὸς τὴν ἄνω
ς English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 23.
4 Joseph. de Bell. lib. ii. cap. 39. [Hudson, p. 1102. 1. 33.] [1]. 19. 4.]
E 2
52 Chorographical century.
πόλιν ἐλθὼν, ἀντικρὺ τῆς βασιλικῆς αὐλῆς ἐστρατοπεδεύετο"
“ Cestius’’ (having wasted the other places of the city) “ came
at length into the Upper City [Ston], and encamped against
the king’s court.”
When the Romans had fired Acra, and levelled it with
the ground ®, ot στασιασταὶ ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλικὴν ὁρμήσαντες αὐλὴν,
“ the seditious rushing into the court, into which, by reason
of the strength of the place, they had conveyed their goods,
call away the Romans thither.” And afterward’: Καῖσαρ δ᾽,
ὡς ἀμήχανον, Χο. “ But, when it was in vain to assault the
Upper City without ramparts, as being every where of steep
access, Cesar applies his army to the work,” ἕο.
11. The House of the Asmoneans, and the Xystus, or
open gallery. King Agrippa® calls the people of Jerusalem
together into the Xystus, and sets his sister Berenice in their
view, ἐπὶ τῆς ᾿Ασαμωναίων οἰκίας, &e., “ upon the House of
the Asmoneans, which was above the Xystus, in the farther
part of the Upper City.”
III. There was a bridge, leading from the Xystus unto
the Temple, and joining the Temple to Sion. Γέφυρα ἢ τῷ
Evot τὸ Ἱερὸν συνῆπτεν᾽ “ A bridge joined the Temple to
the Xystus.” Wheni Pompey assaulted the city, the Jews
took the Temple, καὶ τὴν τείνουσαν ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ γέφυραν εἰς τὴν
πόλιν ἔκοψαν" “and broke down the bridge that led thence
into the city. But others received the army, and delivered
the city and the king’s court to Pompey.”
And* Titus, when he besieged the seditious in the court
in the Upper City, raises the engines of four legions, κατὰ τὸ
πρὸς δύσιν κλίμα τῆς πόλεως, ἀντικρὺς τῆς Βασιλικῆς αὐλῆς, &e.,
«ζ on the west side of the city, against the king’s court. But
the associated multitude, and the rest of the people, were
before the Xystus and the bridge.”
You see, these places were in the Upper City: and you
learn from Josephus, that the Upper City was the same with
the Castle of David, or Sion. But now, that these places
e Tbid. lib. vi. cap. 37. [Hudson, h Tdem ibid.
p. 1286. 1. 35.] [vi. 7. Ὁ i Idem Antiq. lib. xiv. cap. 8.
f Ibid. cap. 40. [vi. 8. 1.] [ Hudson, 613. 1. 31.] [xiv. 4. 2.]
& [Hudson, p. 1084. 1. 34.) [ii. k Idem de Bello, lib. vi. cap. 4o.
τύ. 3.] [vi. Ser]
Eminent buildings in Sion. 53
were on the north side of the city, learn of the same author
from these passages that follow :—
He saith plainly, that the towers! built by Herod,—-the
Psephin tower, the Hippie tower, &c.—were on the north,
“ Titus (saith he ™) intrenched two furlongs from the city on
the angular part of the wall near the Psephin tower, where
the circuit of the wall bends from the north towards the
west.” And in the chapter next after; “'The Psephin tower
lifted up itself at the corner of the north, and so westward.”
And in the same chapter, describing the compass of the out-
most wall, ᾿Αρχόμενον δὲ (saith he”) κατὰ βοῤῥᾶν ἀπὸ τοῦ
ἹἹππικοῦ, &e., “ It began on the north at the Hippie tower,
and went on to the Xystus.”—And when he had described
those towers, he adds these words, Κειμένοις δὲ πρὸς ἄρκτον;
&c., “To those towers, situate on the north, was joined, on
the inside, the Court.” What can be clearer? The court
was in the Upper City, or Sion; but the court was joined to
the outmost northern wall: therefore, Sion was on the north.
Add to these, those things that follow in the story of
Pompey, produced before. When the court was surrendered
into Pompey’s hands, Πομπήϊος δὲ ἔσωθεν στρατοπεδεύεται κατὰ
τὸ βόρειον τοῦ “Ἱεροῦ μέρος, “ he encamped on the north part
of the Temple.” And of Cestius®, Πρὸς τὴν ἄνω πόλιν ἐλθὼν,
ἀντικρὺ τῆς βασιλικῆς αὐλῆς ἐστρατοπεδεύετο" “ Being come to
the Upper City, he pitched against the king’s court.” And
a little afterP, Κατὰ τὸ προσάρκτιον ἐπιχειρεῖ κλίμα τῷ ‘Tepar
“ He attempted the Temple on the north side.”
We shall not urge more at this time. There will occur
here and there to us, as we proceed, such things as may
defend this our opinion: against which what things are
objected, we know well enough; which we leave to the reader
to consider impartially. But these two we cannot pass over in
silence, which seem, with an open face, to make against us:—
I. It may be objected, and that not without cause, that
Sion was in the tribe of Judah, but Jerusalem in the tribe of
Benjamin. But now, when the land of Judah was on the4
" Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 188. ° Ibid. lib. ii. cap. 39. [ii. 19. 4.]
Τα De: Bello, lib. v. cap.12° [ν-: P { Id. ide Belting τῶν ΠῚ]
4:3. 4 English folio edition, vol. ii.
" τ Be 1252. 1 τὴ τ espe 21:
4.2:
δ4 Chorographical century.
south part of Jerusalem, and mount Sion is to be reckoned
within the lot of Judah,—how could this be, when Jeru-
salem, which was of the lot of Benjamin, lay between Judea
and Sion ?
I answer, 1. No necessity compels us to cireumscribe Sion
precisely within the portion of Judah ; when David conquered
it, not as he was sprung of Judah, but as he was the king of
the whole nation.
2. But let it be allowed, that Sion is to be aseribed to
Judah,—that dividing line, between the portion of Judah
and Benjamin, concerning which we made mention before,
went not from the east to the west; for so, indeed, it had
separated all Jerusalem from all Sion: but it went from south
to north, and so it cut Jerusalem in two, and Sion in two:
so that both were in both tribes,—and so also was mount
Moriah.
II. It is objected, that, at this day, a hill and ruins are
shown to travellers under the name of Sion, and the tower of
David, on the south part of the city.
I answer, But let us have leave not to esteem all things
for oracles, which they say, who now show those places;
since it is plain enough that they mistake in many other
things: and let it be without all controversy, that they study
not so much truth in that affair, as their own gain. I wish
less credit had been given to them, and more search had been
made out of Scripture, and other writers, concerning the
situation of the places.
CHEAP SOT).
Some buildings in Acra. Bezetha. Millo.
Mount Sion did not thrust itself so far eastward as mount
Acra: and hence it is, that mount Moriah is said, by Jose-
phus, to be ‘situate over-against Acra,” rather than over-
against the Upper City: for, describing Acra thus, which we
produced before, “Arepos™ δὲ [λόφος] ὁ καλούμενος “Axpa, &e.,
«There is another hill, called Acra, which bears the Lower
City upon it, steep on both sides :” in the next words he sub-
joins this, τούτου δὲ ἀντικρὺ τρίτος ἣν λόφος, “ Over-against this
was a third hill,” speaking of Moriah.
r Joseph. de Bello, lib. v. c. 13. [Hudson, p. 1221. 1. 43.] [v. 4. 1-]
Bezetha. Maillo. 55
The same author thus describes the burning of the Lower
City: Τό τεῦ ἀρχεῖον, καὶ τὴν “Axpav, καὶ τὸ βουλευτήριον, Kat
τὴν φλᾶν ὑφῆψαν" καὶ προὔκοψε τὸ πῦρ μέχρι τῆς ᾿Ἑλένης
βασιλείων, ἃ δὴ κατὰ μέσην τὴν “Axpav ἦν “ Then they fired
the Archivum and Acra, and the council-house, and Ophla:
and the fire destroyed unto the palaces of Helen, which were
in the middle of Acra.”
-J. ’Apyeiov, the Archivum. Whether he means the ma-
gistrates court, or the repository of the ancient records,
according to the different signification of the word, we do
not determine. There were certainly sacred records in the
Temple, and civil records no doubt in the city, where writ-
ings and memorials of sales, contracts, donations, and public
acts, ὅσο. were laid up. I should more readily understand
this of their repository, than of the magistrates’ court,
because, presently after, the council-house is distinctly
named.
11. Acra: that is, either the buildings, which were upon
the very head and top of the mount, or some garrison or
castle in the mount. In which sense that word doth not
seldom occur in the history of the Maccabees, and in
Josephus.
III. The Council-house. He mentions elsewhere βουλὴ the
council, and that, as it seems, in the Upper City. For he
saith, that ‘“ thet outmost wall on the north began at the
Hippic tower, and went forward to the Xystus; ἔπειτα τῇ
βουλῇ συνάπτον, and thence, touching upon the council” (or
the court), “it went onward opposite" against the west walk
of the Temple.” The council in the Upper City you may not
improperly interpret the ‘Court of the King: the council-
house in the Lower City, the council of the Sanhedrim, whi-
ther it went, when it departed from the Taberne.
IV. Ophla. Ophel, Neh. iii. 26.
There* was also a fourth hill, saith the same Josephus, ὃς
καλεῖται Βεζεθὰ, “ which was called Bezetha, situate over-
against Antonia, and divided from it with a deep ditch. Now
Bezetha, if you would render it in Greek, Καινὴ λέγοιτ᾽ ἂν
8 Ibid. lib. vi. cap. 35. [Hudson, ἃ Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 189.
Ῥ. = 1, 20.] [vi. 6. 3.] x Joseph. de Bello, lib. v. cap. 13.
Ὁ Ibid. lib. v. cap. ie liver [»:.2:} 2
56 Chorographical century.
Πόλις, one might call it ‘The New City*.’” And yet there is
a place where he seems to distinguish between Bezetha and
the New City: for he saith concerning Cestius, KéoriosY δὲ
παρελθὼν, &e., “ But Cestius, passing over, set fire upon
Bezetha, so called, and the New City.”
Bezetha? was seated on the north part of Antonia, and
that and Ceenopolis (or the New City) filled up that space,
where Sion ended on the east, and was not stretched out so
far as Acra was. Πλήθειδ ὑπερχεομένη (ἣ πόλις) κατὰ μικρὸν
ἐξεῖρπε τῶν περιβόλων, &e., “(The city), abounding with
people, crept, by little and little, out of the walls: and on
the north side of the Temple, at the hill, making a city, went
onward not a little; καὶ τέταρτον περιοικηθῆναι λόφον, ὃς καλεῖ-
ται Βεζεθὰ, &e. and a fourth hill is inhabited, which is called
Bezetha,” &e.
Interpreters differ about Millo. There is one», who sup-
poses it to be a large place, appointed for public meetings and
assemblies. Another‘ interprets it of heaps of earth, thrown
up against the wall within, whence they might more easily
get up upon the wall: and when David is said to build
Millo, that he erected towers upon these heaps, and banks.
Some others there are, who understand it of the valley or
street that runs between Jerusalem and Sion; and so it is
commonly marked out in the maps,—when, in truth, Millo
was a part of Sion, or some hillock cast up against it on the
west side.
Let that be observed, 2 Chron. xxxii. 5; sib “DS pin
71 Wy “And he restored, or fortified, Millo, of the city of
David :” or, as our English reads, “ zn the city of David.”
The Seventy read, τὸ ἀνάλημμα τῆς πόλεως Δαυὶδ, ““ the fortifi-
cation of the city of David.’ When, therefore, David is said
to build “ Millo, and more inwards,” it is all one as if he
had said, ‘he built on the uttermost part of Sion, which was
ealled Millo, more inwardly to his own castle.” And Joab
repaired the rest, 1 Chron. x1. 8.
The4 street or valley, running between Sion and Acra, was
x Pxnon na] 41.] [v. 4. 2.]
¥ Ibid. lib. ii. cap. 39. [1]. 19. 4.) ἢ Kimchi in 2 Sam. v.
z English folio edition, vol. ii. © R. Esaias, there.
p. 25. 4 Joseph. de Bell. lib. v. ¢. 13.
a Joseph. [Hudson, p. 1222. 1. [v- 4. 1.]
Gihon. Siloam. 57
called Τυροποιῶν φάραγξ, as if one should say, The valley or
street of cheesemongers. There was also Δοκῶν ἀγορὰ, The
market of beams, which Josephus joins with Bezetha, and the
New City. ‘ Cestius (saith hee) wasted Bezetha and Czeno-
polis, kat τὸ καλούμενον Δοκῶν ἀγοράν" and that which is called
the beam-market, with flames.”
CHAP. XXV.
Gihon, the same with the Fountain of Siloam.
I. In 1 Kings 1. 33, 38, that which is, in the Hebrew,
“ Bring ye Solomon to Gihon: and they brought him to
Gihon ;” is rendered by the Chaldee, “ Bring ye him to
Siloam: and they brought him to Siloam.’ Where Kimchi
thus ; “ Gihon is Siloam, and it is called by a double name,
And David commanded, that they should anoint Solomon at
Gihon for a good omen, to wit, that, as the waters of the foun-
tain are everlasting, so might his kingdom be.” So also the
Jerusalem writers; “They do not anoint the king, but at a
fountain ; as it is said, ‘ Bring Solomon to Gihon.’ ”
The bubblings up of Siloam yielded a type of the kingdom
of David, Isa. vilil.6. ‘ Forasmuch as this people refuseth
the waters of Siloah that go softly,” &c. Where the
Chaldee paraphrast thus; ‘“ Because this people are weary
of the house of David, which deals gently with them, as the
waters of Siloam slide away gently.” And R. Solomon;
“Siloam is a fountain, whose name is Gihon and Siloam.”
See also the Aruch in the word mbw.
II. That fountain was situate on the west part of the city,
but not far from the south-west corner.
Josephus, speaking of that deep valley which runs between
Sion and Acra, saith’, καθήκει μέχρι Σιλωὰμ, “it is extended
to Siloam; for so we eall the sweet and large fountain.”
But now the mounts Sion and Acra, and likewise the valley
that cut between them, did run out from east to west. And
the same author, in the same place, speaking of the compass
of the outermost wall, saith these things among others, καὶ
e Td. ibid. lib. ii. cap. 39. [Hud- & Jos. de Bell. lib. v. cap. 13.
son, p. 1102. 1. 33.] [1|- 19. 4.] [ Hudson, p. 1222. 1. 8.] [v. 4. 1.]
f Hieros. Sotah, fol. 22. 3.
58 Chorographical century.
ἔπειτα πρὸς νότον ὑπὲρ τὴν Σιλωὰμ ἐπιστρέφον πηγὴν, &e.
““Απα thence it bends to the south behind the fountain
Siloam.” After the tumult raised at Jerusalem by the Jews
under Florus,—the Neapolitan tribune, coming thither with
king Agrippa, is besought by the Jews, σὺν! ἑνὶ θεράποντι
περιελθεῖν μέχρι τοῦ Σιλοᾶ τὴν πόλιν, “that taking only one
servant, he would go about through the city as far as Siloam”
(that is, from the east to the west, through the whole city) :
and that thence, from the peaceable and quiet behaviour of
the people towards him, he might perceive, that the people
were not in a heat against all the Romans, but against
Florus only.
III. Siloam was on the back of Jerusalem, not of Sion.
Let that of Josephus be noted*; ωμαῖοι, τρεψάμενοι τοὺς
λῃστὰς, &e., “The Romans, when they had drove out the
seditious from the Lower City, burnt it all to Siloam.” This
we therefore observe, because we may see some maps, which,
placing Siloam behind Sion, do deceive here, and are deceived:
when! in truth it ought to be placed™ behind Acra. The
pool, indeed, of Siloam was behind some part of Sion, west-
ward ; but the fountain of Siloam was behind Acra.
IV. It emptied itself, by a double rivulet, into a double
pool, to wit, the upper and the lower, 2 Kings xviii. 17, Isa.
vil.3. ‘The lower was on the west, and is called ‘ The pool
of Siloam,’ John ix. 7, Neh. Π|. 15. The upper, perhaps,
was that which is called by Josephus, ‘ the pool of Solomon,’
in the place lately quoted. ‘And thence (saith he) the
outermost wall bends to the south behind the fountain of
Siloam: ἔνθέν τε πάλιν ἐκκλίνον πρὸς ἀνατολὴν ἐπὶ τὴν Σολο-
μῶνος κολυμβήθραν, &e.: and thence again bends to the east
at the pool of Solomon.” See 2 Chron. xxxii. 30. Isa. xxii.
O,a0.
V. They drew waters out of the fountain of Siloam, in
that solemn festivity of the feast of Tabernacles, which they
called, ONT TID} “ The pouring out of water :” concerning
which the fathers" of the traditions thus; “ The pouring out
i Jos. de Bell. [Hudson, p. 1084. 1 English folio edition, vol. ii.
Tare.) [π|- τό. 1.} Ρ. 26.
k Idem ibid. lib. vi. cap. 36. m Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p.190.
[ vi. '6.-2.] n Succah, cap. 4. hal. 7.
Girdle of the city. 59
of water, in what manner was it? There was a golden cup,
containing three logs, which one filled out of Siloam,” ὅσο.
The Gemarists® inquire, “Whence was this custom? From
thence, that it is said, ‘ And ye shall draw waters with joy out
of the wells of salvation.’” R. Levi saithp, “ Why is it called
τυ Ὁ Ma The place of a draught ?—Because thence they
draw out the Holy Spirit.”
Thence4, also, they drew the water that was to be mingled
with the ashes of the red cow, when any unclean person was
to be sprinkled.
The’ priests, eating more liberally of the holy things, drank
the waters of Siloam for digestion’s sake.
Lets us also add these things; but let the reader unriddle
them :—-“ He that is unclean by a dead carcass entereth not
into the Mountain of the Temple. It is said, That they that
should appear should appear in the court. Whence do you
measure? From the wall, or from the houses? Samuel delivers
it, From Siloam, M7 mow &e. And Siloam was in the
middle of the city.”
ΘΑ ΒΟ OCy I:
The Girdle of the City. Neh. iii.
Tue beginning of the cireumference was from {NIT AW
‘the sheep-gate.? That, we suppose, was seated on the south
part, yet but little removed from that corner, which looks
south-east. Within was the pool of Bethesda, famous for
healings.
Going forward, on the south part, was the tower Meah:
and beyond that, “the tower of Hananeel:” in the Chaldee
paraphrast it is, DY ban, ‘The tower Piccus,’ Zech. xiv.10;
DH, Piccus, Jer. xxxi. 38.—I should suspect that to be
Ἱππικὸν, the Hippie tower, were not that placed on the north
side, this on the south. The words of Jeremiah are well to
be weighed ; “ The city shall be built to the Lord, from the
tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner. And a line
shall go out thence, measuring near it to the hill of Gareb,
© Bab. ibid. fol. 48. 2. τ Avoth R. Nathan, fol. 9. 1.
P HMieros. ibid. fol. 55. 1. 5. Hieros. Chagigah, fol. 76. τ.
4 Parah, cap. iii. hal. 2.
60 Chorographical century.
and it shall go about to Goath. And all the valley of dead
carcasses, and of ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron,
even to the corner of the horse-gate on the east, shall be
Holiness to the Lord,” &e.
Δ My The hill of Gareb :—not that Gareb certainly,
where the idol of Micah was, [Judg. xvii.] concerning which
the Talmudists thust; “ R. Nathan saith, From Gareb to
Shiloh were three miles, and the smoke of the altar was mixed
with the smoke of Micah’s idol :’—but, as Lyranus, not amiss,
“ The mount of Calvary.”
MMmy 3} Goathah: the Chaldee, sony ΓΖ ‘the calves’
pool,’ following the etymology of the word, from My) bellow-
ing. luyranus, Golgotha.
JOWM OD pray The valley of carcasses and ashes. The
Chaldee paraphrast and the Rabbins understand this of the
place where the army of the Assyrians perished: nor very
subtilly ; for they seem to have perished, if so be they
perished near Jerusalem, in the valley of Tophet, or Ben-
Hinnom, Isa. xxx. 33. And Jeremiah speaks of that valley,
namely, the sink and burying-place of the city,—a place,
above all others that compassed the city, the most foul and
abominable: foretelling that that valley, which now was so
detestable, should hereafter be clean, and taken into the com-
pass of the city: but this mystically, and in a more spiritual
sense. Hence we argue, that “ the tower of Hananeel’’ was on
the south side of the city: on which side also was the valley
of Ben-Hinnom; yet bending also towards the east: as the
valley of Kidron bent from the east also towards the north.
It will be impossible, unless [ am very much mistaken, if
you take" the beginning of that circumference in Nehemiah,
for the corner looking north-east, which some do,—to in-
terpret these words of Jeremiah in any plain or probable
sense; unless you imagine that which is most false,—that the
Valley of Hinnom was situate northwardly.
Ver. 3: DAWT Ww. The Seventy render it by Τὴν πύλην
τὴν ἰχθυρὰν, The fish-gate. ‘That was also southward. Of it
mention is made, Zeph. 1. 10; where the Seventy have Πύλη
Ὁ Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 103. 2. See word by. [col. 1198.]
also Midr. Til. in Psal. exxxii. and ἃ English folio edition, vol. ii. p.
Buxt. in Lexic: Talmudic. in the 9
by
ie
a ee —————
Girdle of the city. 61
ἀποκεντούντων" something obscure. Many conjecture this
gate was called the ‘ Fish-gate, because fish were carried
into the city through it: I rather, because it was the “ fish-
market: as the Sheep-gate was the market for sheep. Ze-
phaniah addeth, mpwrar yr m>b- « And he shall howl from
the second.” The Chaldee ἜΗΙ ROW 10; R. Solomon,
MH wr Www ‘from the Bird-gate ’ perhaps the gate, near
unto which fowls were sold. Kimchi reads, δὲ ΣΌΣ 4 ‘ from
Ophel ;’ more plain indeed,—but I ask, whether more true?
This* Bird-gate perhaps was that which is called the Old-
gate, Neh. iii. 6.
Near the corner, looking south-west, we suppose, the
fountain of Siloam was; and that, partly, being persuaded
by the words of Josephus before alleged,—partly, being in-
duced to it by reason itself. For hence flowed that fountain
by the south wall eastwardly to the Sheep-gate, as we sup-
pose; thence the river, somewhat sloping, bends towards
the north into the valley, and ends, at length, in the pool of
Siloam, at the foot of mount Sion.
On the west was, 1. SAT yw “ The gate of the valley,”
ver. 13, being now gotten to the foot of mount Acra. And,
2. A thousand cubits thence, MSWNNM aww “ The Esquiline,
or Dung-gate,” ver. 14. And, 3. Py ἜΜ « The Fountain-
gate,” ver.15; not that of Siloam, nor of Draco; but an-
other.
And now we are come to the pool of Siloam, and to the
foot of Sion, whither they went up by certain steps, ver. 15.
The pool of Siloam was first a fountain, and a river, on the
west, without the walls: but at last, Manasseh the king en-
closed all, 2 Chron, xxxili. 14, that the city might be more
secured of water, in case of a siege: taught it by the ex-
ample of his grandfather Hezekiah, but more incommodious,
2 Chron. xxxii. 3.
The wall went forward along “ burying-places of David,
another pool, and the House of the strong,” ver. 16. And,
not much after it, bended eastwardly.—And now we are come
to the north side. See ver. 19, 20.
At the turning of this corner, Herod built the most famous
x Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 191.
62 Chorographical century.
Psephin tower, of which Josephus Υ thus ; Θαυμασιώτερος ἀνεῖχε
κατὰ γωνίαν βόρειός τε Kal πρὸς δύσιν 6 Ψήφινος, &e., ““ On the
north-west corner, the admired Psephin tower lifts up itself,
near which Titus encamped,” Ge.
There was no gate on this north side. The buildings,
which were inward, are mentioned, Neh. iii. 20—24; and
the Hippie tower is mentioned by Josephus.
On the east were, 1. A tower, advancing itself in the very
bending of the north-east corner. Within was the ‘ King’s
House,’ and the court of the prison, ver. 25. 2. The Water-
gate, of which is mention, Neh. xii. 47. 3. Ophel, and the
Horse-gate, Neh. 111. 27, 28 ; of which mention is also made,
Jer. xxxi. 40. Whence was the beginning of the valley of
Ben-Hinnom: which, running out below the city southward,
at last bent into the west. Therefore, the Water-gate led
into the valley of Kedron: but the Horse-gate into the
valley of Hinnom, at that place touching on the valley of
Kedron. 4. The Gate Miphkad: the Vulgar calls it, The
Gate of Judgment. 5. Not far distant thence was the south-
east corner. And thence a little on the south side was the
Sheep-gate, whence we first set out.
Let us add the words of Josephus, describing how the
outmost wall went. “Apyopévov2 δὲ κατὰ βορρᾶν, &e. “1
began on the north at the Hippie (or horse) tower, and ex-
tended to the Xystus (or open gallery); then touching upon
the Council-house, it ended at the east walk of the Temple.
On the other side, westwardly, beginning from the same
tower, it stretched along by a place called Bethso, to the
gate of the Essenes ; and thence it inclined to the south be-
hind the fountain Siloam: and hence it bowed again east-
wardly unto Solomon’s pool, and passed on to a certain place,
which they call Ophla, and joined to the east walk of the
Temple.”
In which words let us observe two things for the asserting
the procession that we have gone :—1. That this description
proceeds from the north to the west, the south, and the east.
2. That Ophla, or Ophel, lay between the south-east corner
and the porch of the Temple; which cannot at all be con-
Y Joseph. de Bell. lib. v. cap. 13. [Hudson. p. 1223. 1. 35.] [v. 4. 3.]
2 Josephus, in the place above.
Girdle of the city. 63
ceived, if you begin Nehemiah’s delineation at any other place
than where we have. To these may be added, the situation
of Siloam, of which those things, spoken in Josephus and
the Scripture, can in no manner be said, if you reckon it to
be near Sion.
Let us add also the processions of the choir, Neh. xii. 31.
They went up upon the wall, and went forward on the right
hand to the Dung-gate, the Fountain-gate, the city of David,
&e. ver. 27. Let those words, “They went forward on the
right hand,” ver. 31, be observed: which could not be, unless
according to the procession which we have laid down,—if so
be they went up on the wall on the inside of the wall, which
it is rough and strange not to think,
The other part of the choir went on the left hand, towards
the south west, and to the gate of Ephraim, and the Old-
gate, and the Fish-gate, ὅσο. ver.29. Of the gate of Ephraim
nothing was said in the delineation given chap. ii. Men-
tion also is made of it, 2 Kings xiv. 13; where the Corner-
gate is also spoken of ; concerning which, also, here is nothing
said.
In Nehemiah, seems to be understood that place, where
formerly was a gate of that name,—but now, under the
second Temple, was vanished.
CHAP. XXVII.
Mount Moriah.
‘‘Wnuererorre? is it called mount Moriah? R. Levi Bar
Chama and R. Chaninah differ about this matter. One
saith, SN TWD τ, Because thence énstruction should
go forth to Israel. The other saith, opr mond ΝΠ,
Because thence should go forth fear to the nations of the
world.”
“Tte is a tradition? received by all, that the place, where
David built an altar in the threshing-floor of Araunah, was
the place where Abraham built his, upon which he bound
Isaac ; where Noah built his, when he went out of the ark :
a English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 28. oe ii. Juchas. fol. 9. 1. Midr. Till.
b> Bab. Taanith, fol. 16. 1.
© Maiinon, in Beth Habbechir. τὶ “Tretiadeais SGI το ἢ ll. p. 192.
64 Chorographical century.
that in the same place was the altar, upon which Cain and
Abel offered: that Adam offered there, when he was created ;
and that he was ereated from thence. The wise men say,
He had the same place of expiation as he had of creation.”
Mount Moriah was so seated, that ἀντικρὺ ἡ πόλις ἔκειτο
τοῦ Ἱεροῦ θεατροειδὴς οὖσα, “ thee city, in the manner of a
theatre, lay about the Temple :” on this side Sion, then Acra,
and a little on the back of Bezetha.
Thef mount of the Temple (that is, the place where the
buildings of the Temple were) was a square of five hundred
cubits (see Ezek. xlii. 16, 17), compassed with a most noble
wall,—and that fortified (shall I say‘) with double galleries
or halls, or adorned with them, or both. It went out beyond
this wall, towards the north-west corner, to such a dimen-
sion,—that there the tower Antonio was built, of most re-
nowned workmanship and story.
The whole space of the courts was hollow under-ground :
Wit Pd, &e. “ Andg the whole platform stood upon
arches and pillars,’ that so no sepulchre might be made
within this sacred space, whereby either the holy things or
the people might gather pollution.
CHAP. XXVIII.
The Court of the Gentiles. MAT VT The Mountain of the
House, in the Rabbins.
In the Jewish writers, it is ordinarily called MAN W
«The Mountain of the house ;” sometimes 7, or the
«Common Court.” Hence is it, that a gate, descending
hither from the Court of the Women, is called NYY AWW
bans ow muy “The gate whence they go out from the
Court of the Women into the Common Court.” Hence the
author of Tosaphtoth®, “They go out by the gate leading
from the Court of the Women into the Common Court. ( sm)
And some vessels of stone were fastened to the wall of the
steps going up into the Women’s Court, and their covers are
seen in the Common Court.” ( sm)
And that, because hither the heathen might come: “ Rabban
e Joseph. Antiq. lib. [xv. 11. 5.] _ the place above. 5 Ibid.
f Middoth, cap. ii. hal. 1. and in h Tosapht. in Parah, cap. 2.
Court of the Gentiles. 65
Gamaliel ', walking in the Court of the Gentiles (M937 aye
saw a heathen woman, and blessed concerning her.”
And* those that were excommunicated and lamented.
* All! that entered into the mount of the Temple, enter the
right-hand way, and go about: but they go out the left-hand
way: except him, to whom any accident happens: for he
goes about to the left hand. To him that asks, ‘What is the
matter with you, that you go about to the left hand? —he
answers, ‘ Because I lament:’ and he replies to him, ‘ He
that dwells in this temple comfort thee.? Or, “ Because I am
excommunicated :’ and to him he replies, ‘ He that dwells
in this house, put it into their heart to receive thee.’ ”
And not seldom those that are unclean. Yea, he that
earries away the scape-goat might enter into the very court,
although he were then unclean. “Is™ he polluted, who is
to take away the goat? He entereth unclean even into the
court, and takes him away.”
“The” greatest space of the Court of the Gentiles was on
the south; the next to it, on the east; the third, on the
north; but the least space was on the west. Of that place,
where the space was greater, the use was greater also.”
In° the wall compassing this space were five gates: and
within, joining to the wall, were PWD ja DIN? YO
“double galleries” or “halls,” which yielded delightful walks,
and defence also from rains.
There P was only one gate eastward, and that was called,
the Gate of Shushan; because the figure of Shushan, the
metropolis of Persia, was engraven in it, ind token of sub-
jection. In® this gate sat a council of three and twenty.
At the gate, on both sides, were MIN shops ; and the whole
gallery-walk, on this east side, was called ‘‘ Solomon’s porch.”
On the south were two gates, both called the Gate of
Huldah: of the reason of the name we are not solicitous.
These looked towards Jerusalem, or Acra. The hall or
gallery, gracing this south side, was called’ Στοὰ Βασιλικὴ,
i Hieros. Avodah Zarah, fol. 40. 1. © Ibid. c. x. hal. 3.
k English folio edition, vol. ii. P Ibid.
Ρ- 29. 4 Glossa, ibid.
1 Middoth, cap. 2. hal. 2. τ Sanhed. cap. ΤΙ. hal. 2.
m Bab. Joma, fol. 66. 2. S Joseph. Antiq. lib. xv. cap. 14.
n Middoth, cap. 2. hal. 2. βρης
LIGHTFOOT, VOL, I. F
00 Chorographical century.
«The king’s walk,” which was trebled, and of stately
building.
On the west was the gate DID} Kiponus; haply so
named from ‘Coponiust,’ governor of Judea. By this gate
they went down into Sion, the bridge and way bending
thither.
On the north was the gate "1 (Tedi) or Ww (Teri), of no
use: for so is the tradition ἃ, “The gate of Tedi on the north
was of no use.” On this side was the castle Antonia, where
the Romans kept guard; and from hence perhaps might be
the reason the gate was deserted.
CHAP. XXIX.*
ow muy = on
Chel. The Court of the Women.
Tuer Court of the Gentiles compassed the Temple and the
courts on every side. The same also did bin Chel, or the
Ante-murale. “ThatY space was ten cubits broad, divided
from the Court of the Gentiles by a fence, ten hand-breadths
high; in which were thirteen breaches, which the kings of
Greece had made: but the Jews had again repaired them,
and had appoited thirteen adorations answering to them.
Maimonides? writes: “ Inwards” (from the Court of the
Gentiles) “was a fence, that encompassed on every side, ten
hand-breadths in height, and within the fence Che/, or the
Ante-murale: of which it is said, in the Lamentations, ~ a8"
maim bn: ‘ And he caused Chel and the Wall to lament, τ
Lam. ii. 8. ἤ
Josephus writes ἃ, [Περίβολος] δεύτερος προσβατὸς βαθμῖσιν
. ὀλίγαις, ὃν περιεῖχε ἕρκιον λιθίνου δρυφάκτου, &e. ““ΤΠΘ second
circuit was gone up to by a few steps: which the partition of
a stone wall surrounded: where was an inscription, forbidding
any of another nation to enter, upon pain of death.” Hence
happened that danger to Paul because of Trophimus the
Ephesian, Acts xxi. 29.
Ὁ Joseph. Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. 1. y Middoth, cap. 2. ag
Lom. τ. 1.2] 2 Beth Habbechir. cap. 5
« Middoth, in the place above. a Antiq. lib. xv. cap. ae Hud-
x Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p.193. son, p. 704. 1. 1.] [xv. 11.
Court of the Women. 67
“ The> Chel [on] or Ante-murale” (or second enclosure
about the Temple), “ was more sacred than the Court of the
Gentiles: for hither no heathen, nor any unclean by that
which died of itself, nor who lay with a menstruous woman,
might come.”
“From hence they ascended into the Court of the Women
by twelve steps.”
On‘ the east it had only one gate, called in the Holy
Scripture, ‘Qpafa, ‘ Beautiful,’ Acts iii. 2. In Josephus¢, the
‘Corinthian’ gate: Τῶν δὲ πυλῶν, &e. saith he; “Of the
gates, nine of them were every where overlaid with gold and
silver, likewise the posts, and the lintels. But one, without
the Temple, made of Corinthian brass, did much exceed, in
glory, those, that were overlaid with silver and gold. And
two gates of every court were each thirty cubits high, and
fifteen broad.”
On the south was only one gate also, and one on the
north: and galleries, or court-walks within, joining to the
wall, in the same manner as in the outer court, but not
double. Before which were the treasuries placed, or thirteen
chests 8, called by the Talmudists, MIADW Shopharoth ; in
which was put the money offered for the various services of
the Temple; and, according to that variety, the chests had
various titles written on them: whence the offerer might
know into which to put his offering, according to his quality.
Upon? one was inscribed, ΤΠ roan «The new she-
kels;” into which were cast the shekels of that year. Upon
another, pany popn “The old shekels ;”” into which were
gathered the shekels owing the last year. Upon another,
ὙΌΣ D2) “pigeons and turtles.” Upon another, πον
“The burnt sacrifice.’ Upon another, Dy “The wood.”
Upon another, 72129 “ Frankincense.” Upon another,
nes> am “ Gold for the propitiation.”” And six chests
had written on them, ΓΤ ΤΩ “ Voluntary sacrifice.”
“ The! length of the Women’s Court was a hundred thirty-
> Maimon. in the place before, son, p. 1226. 1. 44.] [v. 5. 3.]
cap. 7. f Id. ibidem.
© Middoth, in the place above. & Shekalim, cap. 6. hal. 1.
4 English folio edition, vol. ii. h Jbid. hal. 5.
= 30: i Middoth, in the place above,
© De Bello, lib. v. cap. 14. [Hud- hal. 5. Bab. Joma, fol. τό. 1.
ΕἼ
a
p
68 Chorographical century.
five cubits, and the breadth a hundred thirty-five cubits.
And there were four chambers in the four corners of it, each
forty cubits, but not roofed.” See Ezek. xlvi. 21, 22.
“At the south-east was the court of the Nazarites: because
there the Nazarites boiled their thank-offerings, and cut their
hair, and put it under the pot.”
“ At the north-east was the chamber of wood: where the
priests, defiled with any spot, searched the wood, whether it
was unclean by worms. And all wood in which a worm was
found was not fit for the altar.”
“ At the north-west was the chamber of the Leprous.”
“ At the south-west was the chamber of wine and oil.”
“On the highest sides” (we follow the version of the
famous Constantine L’Empereur), “was the smooth and
plain Court of the Women; but they bounded it round about
with an inward gallery, that the women might see from
above, and the men from below, that they might not be
mingled.”
In this Court of the Women was celebrated the sacred
and festival dance, in the feast of Tabernacles, called the
“ Pouring out of Water :” the ritual of which you have in the
place k cited in the margin.
“The! Court of the Women was more sacred than the Chel
(nr) ; because any, who had contracted such an unclear-
ness that was to be cleansed the same day, (OV Sov)
might not enter into it.”
CHAP. XOX.
The Gate of Nicanor, or the East Gate of the Court of Israel.
From hence they went up from the Court of the Women
fifteen steps. Βαθμοὶ δὲ δεκαπέντε, ἕο. “ There were fifteen
steps (saith Josephus™) ascending from the partition-wall
of the women to the greater gate.’ Concerning these steps,
the Talmudists®, relating the custom of the dance just now
mentioned, speak thus: “ The religious men, and the men of
good works, holding torches in their hands, danced and sang.
k Succah, cap. v. hal. 2, ἄς. ™ Joseph. de Bello, lib. v. cap. 14.
1 Maimon. in Beth. Habbech. in [Huds. 1227.1. 14. [v. 5. 3-]
the place above. n Succah, cap. v. hal. 4.
The East Gate of the Court. 69
The Levites °, with harps, lyres, cymbals, trumpets, and in-
finite other musical instruments, stood upon the fifteen steps
going down out of the Court of Israel into the Women’s
Court, singing according to the number of the fifteen psalms
of degrees, &c.
The east gate of the Court of Israel was called the “ gate
of Nicanor.”’—“ Allp the gates were changed to be of gold,
except the gate of Nicanor; because concerning that a mi-
racle was shown: others say, because the brass of it did ex-
ceedingly shine.”
In4 the gate of Nicanor, they made the suspected wife
drink the bitter waters ; they purified the woman after child-
birth, and the leper.
Of the miracle, done about the folding-doors of this gate,
see Constantine L’Empereur, Middoth, p. 57, and Juchasin,
fol. 65. 2, &c.; who also produceth another reason of the
name, in these words: “ In the book of Josephus Ben Gorion
it is said, that the gate of Nicanor’ was so called, because a
miracle was there shown, namely, that there they slew Nica-
nor, a captain of the Grecians, in the days of the Asmoneans :
which may also be seen in the end of the second chapter of
the tract Taanith.”
The history alleged is thus :—Nicanors was one of the
captains of the Greeks; and every day he wagged his hand
towards Judea and Jerusalem, and said, “ Oh! when will it
be in my power, to lay them waste!” But when the As-
monean family prevailed, they subdued them, and slew
him, and hung up his thumbs and great toes upon the gates
of Jerusalem. Hence ‘ Nicanor’s day’ is in the Jewish ca-
lendar.
Thist gate was πεντήκοντα πηχῶν τὴν ἀνάστασιν, &e., “ fifty
cubits in height ;’ the doors contained forty cubits, and very
richly adorned with silver and gold, laid on to a great
thickness.”
In that gate sat a council of three and twenty; as there
was another in the gate of Susan.
© Leusden’s edition, vol.ii. p.194. Joseph. Antiq. lib. τ cap. 17.
P Middoth, cap. ii. hal. 3. ce p- 549: |) {{π| ρ΄ τῷ:
4 Sotah, cap. 1. hal. 5. t Joseph. de Bello, ΠΕ Ὁ i227
r English folio edit., vol. il. cl 31. 10.) [v.5.3
S Bab. Taanith, fol. 18, Vid. u Ἐπ τς cap. xi. hal. 2.
το Chorographical century.
None" of the gates had 7D*, (a small scroll of paper
fixed to the posts,) but the gate of Nieanor.
CHAP. SAAT
Concerning the Gates and Chambers lying on the South
Side of the Court.
Herre, concerning the chambers, they differ. The tract
Middoth assigns these to the south side; “ The ¥ chamber of
wood, the chamber of the spring water, the chamber Ga-
zith.’—The Babylonian Gemara? and Maimonides* assign
them to the north side. In Middoth, “ the chamber of salt,
the chamber of Happarva, the chamber of them that wash,”
were on the north side: in those, they are said to be on the
south. The matter is hardly of so great moment, that we
should weary ourselves in deciding this controversy. We
enter not into disputes, but follow those things that are more
probable, the Middoth being our guide.
I. Therefore we suppose, first, that the chamber Gazith
was on the south side of the court, near the east corner: and
that upon this reason,—that since, according to all the Jews
(howsoever differing on what side it was placed), this cham-
ber was not in the middle of the three chambers before
named, but on the outside, either on the one hand or on the
other,—the council could not sit in the lot of Judah, if Gazith
were not seated about that place which we assign.
saya mova pos pao mon nsw « The? chamber
Gazith was in the form of a great court walk, And half of
it was in the Holy Place, and the other half in that which
was common: and it had two doors; whereof one opened to-
wards the Holy Place,—the other towards that which was
common :”—that is, one into the court, the other to the
Chel. The great Sanhedrim sat in that part, which was in
Chel ; for “none might sit in the court, unless kings only
of the stock of David.”
“Inc the chamber Gazith sat the council of Israel, and
judged concerning the priests. Whosoever was found touched
with any spot was clothed in black, and was veiled in black,
u Bab. Joma, fol. 11. Zz Joma, f. 19.1.
* [See Buxtorf Lex. sub y. col. a Beth Habbechir. cap. 5.
654.| Ὁ Joma, fol. 25.1.
y Midd. cap. v. hal. 3. ς Τυϊά. fol. 19. 1.
South Side of the Court. 71
and went away. Whoever was without spot, being clothed
and veiled in white, went into the court, and ministered with
his brethren.”
: MAW AW yt “ The president sat in the west part
of the chamber;” and “ Ab Beth Dine pat inaleslty the
next in rank to the president], on his right hand, and the
elders on both sides, in a half circle.”
~ How the Sanhedrim was driven from this chamber, and
when and why, we observe elsewhere.
I. mba mows «Thef chamber of the spring” was
next to this, westwardly: “ where was a well, and a pulley:
whence water was supplied to the whole court.”
III. Contiguous to this was the “ gate of waters ;” 50
called, either because the water, to be poured out upon the
altar, on the feast of Tabernacles, was brought in through
this gate; or because the water-course, conveyed into the
Temple from the fountain Etam, went along through this
gate into the chamber of the spring. “ Abai saith’, That
fountain was deeper than the pavement of the court three
and twenty enbits.”’—“ And I think (saith the author of the
Gloss), that the fountain Etam was the same with the waters
of Nephtoah, of which mention is made in the book of Joshua,
xv. 9; from thence it descends and slopes into the east and
west, and that place was the highest in the land of Israel.”
IV.i After‘ this gate was the ‘ chamber of wood ;’ and
above that, PYM now> “the chamber παρέδρων, of the
magistrates ;” or, as it was commonly called, "WI Naw
“the chamber of the counsellors :’ where there was a ses-
sions of the priests, consulting about the affairs of the Tem-
ple and Service. The ‘wood-chamber’ seems to be called
so upon this account, because the wood was conveyed hither,
after the search about it was made in the ‘ chamber of wood’
(which was in the corner of the Women’s Court,) whether
there were any worms in it: that which was found fit for the
altar was laid-up here, that it might be more in readiness.
V. Beyond that was JApr Ayw “ the gate of offering :”
and, after that, spot “yw “the gate of kindling.”
d Joma, fol. 25.1. & Bab. Joma, fol. 31.
€ Maimon. in Sanhedr. cap. 1. h Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 195.
f Midd. cap. v. hal. 3. et Joma, i English folio edition, vol. il. p.32.
fol. 19. 1. k See Midd. in the place above.
72 Chorographical century.
CHAP. XXXfil.
The Gates and Doors on the North Side.
I. Fresv, we meet with the “ gate! and chamber Nitsots ;”’
where the priests and Levites watched. This was also called
“ the gate of a song.”
II. The “ chamber of them that wash” was next to that :
and the “ chamber of Happarva,” joining to that. In that,
they washed the inwards of the sacrifices; in this, they salted
39
the skins of the sacrifices. Some πὶ believe one Parva, a
magician, built this chamber; others, that that magician,
Parva, made a secret hole in the wall of this chamber, that
through that he might see what was here done by the high-
priest: “ For™ in a covered place of this chamber there was
a bath for the great priest, in the day of expiation.”
111. Thence was the ‘ gate of offering,’ or of ‘ Corban :’
this was also ealled ‘ the gate of the women.’ The reason
rendered of the former name is, “ that by this gate they
brought in the Most Holy sacrifices, which were slain on the
north.” But the reason of the latter is more obscure: per-
haps before that gate the women delivered their sacrifices
into the hands of the priests.
IV. After that gate, westward, was the “ chamber of
salt :” where°® salt was laid up for the offerings.
V. Following that was the ‘ gate Beth Mokadh,” or the
“gate of burning :” so called from a chamber adjoining,
where a fire continually burnt for the use of the priests.
This also was ealled the “ gate Corban :” for, between: this
and the gate last named was the chamber, where the public
treasure of the Temple was laid up. In ‘ Beth-Mokadh’ were
four chambers :—1!. oxby nows ‘The chamber of lambs 2
where they were kept for the use of the altar. 2. ‘ The
chamber of the show-bread. 3. The chamber, where the
stones of the altar were laid up by the Asmoneans, when the
kings of Greece had profaned the altar. 4. The chamber,
whence they went down into the bath.
1 Midd. cap. tr. hal. 5. n Midd. cap. v. hal. 2.
™ Bab. Joma, fol. 35. 1. ο Tbid.
The Court itself. 73
CHAP exe:
The Court itself.
« The floor? of the whole sacred earth was not level, but
rising : when any went on, from the east gate of the Court of
the Gentiles, to the farthest part of the Che/,—he went all in
a level. From the Chel, he went up into the Court of the
Women, twelve steps,—whereof every step was half a cubit
in height. Along the whole Court of the Women he went
in a level; and thence went up into the Court of Israel fif-
teen steps, every step half a cubit in height.”
The 4 Court of Israel was a hundred and thirty-five cubits
in length, eleven in breadth.
Through all this court one went in a level; and thence
went up into the Court of the Priests by one step of a cubit
high: on which was set a pulpit (where the choir of the Le-
vites that sang stood), and in it were three steps, each half
acubit. Therefore, the Court of the Priests is found to be
two cubits and a half higher than the Court of Israel.
The Court of the Priests was a hundred thirty-five cubits
in length, eleven in breadth. And they divided the heads of
the beams between the Court of Israel and the Court of the
Priests.
They went through the Court of the Priests in a level ;
and the same they did along the space by the altar, and
along the space between the altar and the Pronaon, or the
‘ Porch of the Temple.” Thither they ascended by twelve steps,
each half a cubit high. The floor of the Pronaon and the
Temple was all level : and was higher than the floor of the east
gate of the Court of the Gentiles, two and twenty cubits.
The length of the whole court was a hundred eighty-seven
cubits, that is, from east to west. To wit,
The breadth of the Court of Israel . . . - Τὶ
The breadth of the Court of the Priests . . . 11
‘Rhe;breadthtofthetaltar 7.045 40...) -<) τον)
The space between the altar and the Pronaon . 22
The length of the Pronaon and the Temple . . 100
Behind the Temple to the west wall. . . . . 11
187
P Maim. Beth Habbech. cap. 6. ¥ English folio edition, vol. ii. p.
1 Midd. cap. 2. hal. 6. 22.
74 Chorographical century.
CHAP. XXXIV.
The Altar. The Rings. The Laver.
The t altar was, on every side, two-and-thirty cubits; after
the ascent of one cubit, it was so straitened, that it was less
by one cubit in the whole square,—that is, on every side thirty
cubits. It went up five cubits, and again was straitened a
cubit; so that there it was eight and twenty cubits on every
side. The place of the horns on every part was the space of
one cubit; so that now it was six and twenty cubits every
way. The place of the priests’ walk, hither and thither, was
one cubit; so that the place of burning extended four and
twenty cubits round about.
A scarlet thread begirt the middle of the altar, to discern
between the upper bloods and the lower.
The basis of the altar towards the south-east had no
corner, because that part was not within the portion of
Judah.
At the horn between the west and the south were two
holes, like nostrils, through which the sprinkled blood de-
scended, and flowed into the brook Kedron.
The ascent to the altar was, on the south, two and thirty
cubits, and the breadth sixteen cubits. There" was a time,
when, upon this ascent, one priest stabbed another priest
with his knife, while they strove who should first get up to
the altar.
On the north were six orders of rings, each of which con-
tained four. There are some who assert there were four
orders, and each contained six, at which they killed the
sacrifices : there, therefore, was the place of slaughter. Near
by were low pillars set up, upon which were laid, overthwart,
beams of cedar: in these were fastened iron hooks, on which
the sacrifices were hung; and they were flayed on marble
tables, which were between those pillars.
There was a laver or cistern between the porch and the
altar, and it lay a little to the south. “ Ben Kattin* made
twelve cocks for it, which before had but two. He also
made V3 “22 the machine of the cistern:” that is, as
the Gloss explains it, ‘ Ben Kattin, when he was the chief
5 Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 196. ἃ Bab. Joma, 23.1.
t Middoth, cap. 3. Ibid. fol. 37. 1.
Memorable places of the City. 75
priest, made those cocks for the cistern, that the waters might
flow out of them; he made also a pulley, or a wheel, whereby
water might be drawn for the use of the cistern.’
Between the altar and the πρόναον (or porch) was the
space of two and twenty cubits. They went up thither by
twelve steps, each half a eubit in height.
They Temple was strait on the hinder part, but broad on
the fore part; and resembled the figure of a lion, because it
is said, “ Woe to Ariel” (the lion of the Lord), “ to Ariel,
the city where David encamped.” As the lion is narrower
behind, and broader before, so also was the Temple. For
the porch was broader than the Temple fifteen cubits on the
north, and fifteen cubits on the south; and that space, jetting
out on both sides, was called mann ms “ The place of
knives,’”’—namely, where the holy knives, used in killing of
the saerifices, were laid up.
The length of the Temple contained a hundred eubits,—
the breadth seventy: including within this measure the
porch, the chambers, and the thickness of the outward wall ;
to trace all which would be too much. And these things,
which we have said, we have, therefore, run through with
the more haste, both because the famous Constantine L’Em-
pereur? hath, very learnedly and largely, treated of them ;
and because we ourselves largely enough, though much more
unlearnedly, have heretofore done these things in a just vo-
lume, in our English tongue 8,
CHAP. Xo VP
Some other memorable Places of the City.
I. Tuere was a street leading from the Gate of Waters to
the mount of the Temple, which seems to be called “ the
street of the Temple,” Ezra x. 9. This way they went from
the Temple to mount Olivet.
IJ. The ascent to the mount of the Temple was not sc
difficult but cattle and oxen might be driven thither; nor
so easy, but that it required some pains of those that went
up. “Ac child was free from presenting himself in the
y Midd. cap. 4. a [**The Temple Service,” vol.
z [Talmudis Bab. Codex Mid- _ ix. of his works in Pitman’s ed.]
doth. Heb. Lat. cum Comment. 4to. Ὁ English folio edit., vol. il. p. 34-
Lugd. Bat. 1630. ] © Chagig. cap. il. hal. 1.
76 Chorographical century.
Temple at the three feasts, until” (according to the school of
Hillel) “ he was able, his father taking him by the hand, to
go up with him into the mount of the Temple.”
IIL. Ἣ ὃ τῶν Τυροποιῶν [zpocayopevopevn| φάραγξ, [ἣν ἔφα-
μεν] τόν τε τῆς ἄνω πόλεως, καὶ τὸν κάτω λόφον διαστέλλων,
καθήκει μέχρι Σιλωάμ. “ The vale of the Tyropei” (or the
cheesemongers), “ that divided between the hill of the Upper
City and the Lower, went down unto Siloam.” The entrance
into this vale, probably, was eastward by the Horse-gate, and
the street (the most noted of the whole city) went onward to
the west.
TV oy Ww The Upper Street.—“ Any° spittle, found
in the city, was clean, except that which was found in the
upper street.” The Gloss thus; “ The spittle of any unclean
person is unclean, and defiles. But strangers of another
country are as unclean among us, as those that have a flux.
Now the strangers dwelt in the upper street.” Here I re-
member the story of Ismael Ben Camithi, the high-priest ;
who4 when he went out on the day of expiation to speak
with a certain (heathen) captain, some spittle was sprinkled
upon his clothes¢ from the other’s mouth: whereby being
defiled, he could not perform the service of that day: his
brother therefore officiated for him.
V. onus bw pw “The street of the butchers.” [Sagi-
natorum, Buxtorf. |
VI. omar bu Ww “ The street of those that dealt in wool.”
“Inf the butchers’ street, which was at Jerusalem, they
locked the door” (on the sabbath), “ and laid the key in the
window which was above the door. R. Jose saith, That this
was in the street of those that dealt in wool.”
Josephus hath these words, Ka00% καὶ τῆς Καινῆς πόλεως,
ἐριοπώλιά TE ἣν καὶ χαλκεῖα, καὶ ἱματίων ἀγορά. “ In the new
city there was a wool-market, and braziers’ shops, and a
market of garments.”
VII. «“ At Jerusalem was a great court, called Pip) Ma
Beth Jaazek, where the cities were gathered together,”—
Ὁ Jos. de Bello, lib. v. cap. 13. f Erubhin, cap. x. hal. 9.
[Hudson, p. 1222. 1. 6.] [v. 4. 1.] & De Bello, lib. v. cap. 24. feet
¢ Shekalim, cap. viii. hal. 1. son, p. 1237. 1. 26. [viil. 1. I.
4 Avoth R. Nathan, fol. 9. 1. h Rosh hashanah, cap. 11, hal. 5.
© Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 197.
Memorable places of the city. 77
namely, that they might testify concerning the new moon:
‘‘and there the Sanhedrim took them into examination ;
and delicious feasts were made ready for them there, that
they might the more willingly come thither for the sake
thereof.”
VIII. Some: courts also were built upon a rock, under
which there was made a hollow, that by no means any se-
pulchre might be there. Hither they brought some teeming
women, that they might be delivered there, and might there
also bring up their children. And the reason of that cu-
riosity was, that those children, there born and brought up,
where they were so secure from being touched by a sepulchre,
might be clean without doubt, and fit to sprinkle, with puri-
fying water, such as were polluted with a dead carcass. The
children were shut up in those courts, until they became seven
or eight years old. (So R. Solomon, who also cites Tosaph-
toth, where nevertheless it is, “ until they are eighteen years
of age.”) And when the sprinkling of any one is to be per-
formed, they are brought with the like care and curiosity to
the place, where the thing is to be done, riding upon oxen,
because their bellies, being so thick, might defend them the
more securely from the defilement of any sepulchre in the
way.
IX. There were not a few caves in the city, hollowed out
of the rock, which we observed concerning the hollowed floor
of the Temple. Into* one of these Simon the tyrant! betook
himself with his accomplices, when he despaired of his af-
fairs. Of whom you have a memorable story in the place
quoted.
X. Besides the pool of Siloam, of Bethesda, of Solomon,
(if that were not the same with Bethesda,) there ™ was Στρου-
θίου κολυμβήθρα, “the Sparrow-pool,” before Antonia; and
κολυμβήθρα ᾿Αμύγδαλος, “the Almond-pool,” on the north side
of the city.
XI. We cannot also pass over DUYWT {AN “The” stone
of things lost :’ where publication was made concerning any
thing lost or missing.
i Parah, cap. iil. hal. 2 m Jos. de Bell. lib. v. cap. 30.
k Se: de Bell. lib. ei. 7. [Huds. [Hudson, p. 1248. 1. 45. [v. 11. 4.]
Π. τ20η.. 1.535. [[vili. 2.22] n Taanith, cap. il. hal. 8.
: English folio edition, vol.il. p.35-
78 Chorographical century.
XII. We conclude with the trench brought round the
city by ‘Titus, wherein he shut it up in the siege. “ Begin-
ning® from the tents of the Assyrians, where he encamped,
he brought a trench ἐπὶ τὴν κατωτέρω Καινόπολιν, to the
nether new city” (the Upper was the hill Bezetha, the Nether
was a place somewhat lower on the east of Sion), ‘“ and
thence along Kedron to mount Olivet. Thence bending to
the south, he shut up the mountain round, to the rock called
περιστερεῶνος, the Dove-cote,—and the hill beyond, which lies
over the valley of Siloam. From thence bending on the
west, he came even into the vale of the fountain. After
which, ascending along the sepulchre of Anan the chief
priest, and enclosing the mountain where Pompey pitched
his tents, he bended to the north side, and going forward as
far as the village, which is called, ‘ the house, or place of tur-
pentine’”’ (perhaps tos moa); “and after that, taking in
the sepulchre of Herod, he came eastwardly to his own
intrenchment.”
CHAP... XXXVI.
Synagogues in the City ; and Schools.
« R. PrinenasP, in the name of R. Hoshaia, saith, There
were four hundred and sixty synagogues in Jerusalem : every
one of which had a house of the book, and a house of doe-
trine,” mwas trabn may saps reo ma: “A house
of the book for the Scripture,” that is, where the Scripture
might be read: “and a house of doetrine for traditions,”
that is, the Beth Midrash, where traditions might be taught.
These things are recited elsewhere, and there the number
ariseth to four hundred and eighty. “ R. Phinehas4, in the
name of R. Hoshaia, saith, There were four hundred and
eighty synagogues in Jerusalem,” ὅθ. We do not make
inquiry here concerning the numbers being varied : the latter
is more received: and it is made out by gematry', as they
eall it, out of the word ΝΡ ‘full,’ Isa. i. 51. “ Wes find
© Joseph. de Bello, lib. v. cap.13. quali numero, eundem sensum
(Hudson, p. 1251.1. 31.] [v.12.3.] colligunt. Ortum videtur esse ex
P Hieros. Chetub. fol. 35. 3. Greco γεωμετρία. Buxtorf Lex.
4 Idem, Megillah, fol. 73. 4. Chald. Talm. et Rabb. sub v. 2.5.
τ [ΝΥ ῸΣ Rabbinis est Kabbale 60]. 446.]
species, qua ex diversarum yocum s R.Sol. in Isa. ii. 1.
Synagogues and schools. 79
in Pesikta: R. Menahem, from R. Hoshaia, saith, Four hun-
dred and eighty synagogues were in Jerusalem, according to
the arithmetical value of the word sandy.” Note, that the
letter δὲ 1s not computed. [= 40. b— 40. M=400. "=10.]
ὈΥ ὩΌΣΟΝ Sw noi “The synagogue of the Alexan-
drians,” is mentioned by the Talmudists: concerning which
also the Holy Scripture speaks, Acts vi. 9.
᾿ς “#leazart Ben R. Zadok received (for a price) the syna-
gogue of the Alexandrians, and did his necessary works in it.
The Alexandrians had built it at their own charge.” This
story is recited by the Babylonian Talmudists, and they for
Alexandrians have OVO WW The Bramers. For so they®
write: “ The* synagogue of the Braziers, which was at
Jerusalem, they themselves sold to R. Eleazar,” ὅθ. The
Gloss renders DVD by NWWI “HNL “ workmen in brass.’
—The reason why the Alexandrians were so called, you may
fetch, perhaps, from this story: “Therey was a brass cymbal
in the Temple; and there being a crack in it, the wise men
brought artificers from Alexandria to mend it, &c. There
was also a brass mortar in the Temple, in which they beat
their spices; and there being a crack in it, the wise men
brought artificers in brass from Alexandria to mend it,” &e.
Consider well, what "D710 wd “ The language of Tursi,”
means in that legend. “ Bigthan? and Teresh DMO WW IW
ὙΠ (perhaps) were two Tarsians:” or, if you will, ‘two arti-
ficers :’ “and they talked together SD" nwa in the lan-
guage of Tursi” (where the Gloss, ‘Tursi is the name of a
place’); ‘“‘ and they knew not that Mordecai was one of the
elders in the chamber Gazith, and that he understood seventy
languages,” &c.
In@ the place noted in the margin, these words are related
concerning the sending away the goat Azazel, or the scape-
goat: “ The chief priests permitted not an Israelite to lead
away the scape-goat into the wilderness: but once, one Ar-
sela, who was an Israelite, led him away: and they made him
a footstool because of the Babylonians, who used to pull off
his hair, and to say, Take it, and go.” The Gemara thus;
t Hieros. in Megill. in the place y Bab. Erachin, fol. ro. 2.
cited above: and Juchas. fol. 26. 2. 2 Bab. Megill. fol. 13. 2.
u Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 198. a Bab. Joma, fol. 66.
x Bab. Megill. fol. 26. τ.
80 Chorographical century.
“ Rabba Bar Bar Channah saith, They were not Babylo-
nians, but Alexandrians; but, because they hated the Baby-
lonians, therefore they called them by their name. ‘Take
it, and go. Why does this goat tarry, when the » sins of this
generation are so many?” Where the Gloss thus; ‘ They
made him a footstool, or something to put under his feet,
that he might be higher: and upon this he went out of the
court, and out of the city: and this, lest the Babylonians
should touch the goat: for they used to pull off his hair, and
to say, Go, make haste, begone, delay not, our sins are yet
upon us.” And after; “ The inhabitants of the land of
Israel hated the Babylonians; every one, therefore, carrying
himself irreverently and indecently, they called by their
name.”
Συναγωγὴ Λιβερτίνων, ‘ The synagogue of the Libertines,’
Acts vi.g: DOM WNWAN NID “ The synagogue of those,
that are made free:” of whom the Talmudists speak infi-
nitely.
CHAP ΧΧ Χ Ἢ:
Bethphage. “Δ ΓΔ.
Tuere is very frequent mention of this place in the Tal-
mudists: and, certainly, a more careful comparison of the
maps with those things which are said by them of the situa-
tion of this place is worthy to be made; when they place it
in mount Olivet, tlese make it contiguous to the buildings of
Jerusalem.
I. Ine the place cited in the margin, the case NV22 }/73
“of a stubborn judge” (or elder) is handling. For when, by
the prescript of the law, difficult matters, and such things as
concerning which the lower councils could not judge, were
to be brought unto the chief council, unto the place which
God should choose, Deut. xvii. 8 ;—-and when that judge of
the lower council, who, after the determination and sentence
pronounced in that cause, which he propounded, shall refuse
to obey, and shall deny to behave himself according to their
sentence,—is guilty of death, ver. 12, inquiry is made, “ Whe-
ther, "25 MAN Ww», &c. if he shall find the Sanhedrim sit-
ting in Bethphage, and shall rebel against the sentence pro-
b English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 36. © Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 14. 2.
Bethphage. 81
nounced by them there, that stubbornness be to be judged
for rebellion,” which, according to the law, is to be punished
with death: and it is answered, “The text saith, ‘ Thou shalt
arise, and go up to the place, &. Whence it is taught, that
the place itself” (the chamber Gazith only) “ adds force to the
sentence.”"—The Gloss writes thus, ops Dip "AND ma
(2 &e. <‘‘ Bethphage was a place within the walls of the city,
and was reckoned as Jerusalem itself, in respect of all things.”
Observe, ‘ Bethphage was within the walls of Jerusalem :’ so
that if the sentence of the Sanhedrim, pronounced at Jeru-
salem (out of the chamber Gazith), obtained in the case pro-
pounded,—it had obtained, when pronounced in Bethphage.
II. “ He‘ that kills a sacrifice of thanksgiving within the
wall, and the bread of it is without the wall, the bread is not
holy. What is without the wall? R. Jochanan saith, Without
the wall of Bethphage; but without the wall of the court, it
is holy.”—The Gloss thus; [YT OWO WT UND mI
poumpaw “ Bethphage is the outmost place in Jerusalem:
and whosoever is without the walls of Bethphage, is without
Jerusalem, where is no place to eat the holy things.”
ΠῚ. Ite is disputed, whether the passover be to be slain
in the name of a person in prison singly; and, among other
things, it is thus determined: “If he be within the walls of
Bethphage, let them kill it for him singly. Why? Because
it is possible, to come to him, and he may eat it.”—The
Gloss ; ‘‘ Bethphage is the outmost.place in Jerusalem: and
thither they carry the passover to the person imprisoned,
that he may eat it, because he is there within Jerusalem.”
For it was by no means lawful to eat the passover without
Jerusalem.
IV. « Thef two loaves” (daily offered by the chief priest)
‘and the show-bread are baked aright either in the court or
in Bethphage.
VY. That’ which we produced first concerning the cause
δ [pT “ of the stubborn elder,” is recited also elsewhere ;
and these words are added, ‘‘ He» found the council sitting in
Bethphage : for example’s sake, if he betook himself thither
4 Idem, Pesachin, fol. 63. 2. & Leusden’s edition, vol. il. p. 199.
© Bab. Pesachin, fol. g1. 1. h Bab. Sotah, fol. 45. 1.
f Menacoth, cap. 11. hal. 2.
LIGHTFOOT, VOL. I, G
82 Chorographical century.
to measure for the beheading of the cow, or to add to the
space of the city, or the courts.”
VI. “θ᾽ thrashes within the walls of Bethphage.”—The
Gloss; ‘“ Bethphage is the outmost cireuit of Jerusalem.”
The Aruch ;—* The wall of Bethphage is the wall of Jeru-
salem.”
Now consult the maps and the commentaries of Christ-
ians, and you have Bethphage seated far from the walls of
the city, not very far from the top of mount Olivet: where,
also, the footsteps of it (even at this day) are falsely shown
to travellers. So our countryman Sandys", an eyewitness,
writes concerning it: ‘“ We now ascend mount Olivet (saith *
he), another way bending more northwards” (for before, he
had described the ascent to Bethany). “On the right hand,
not far from the top, was Bethphage seated, whose very foun-
dations are confounded ; from-whence Christ, sitting upon
the foal of an ass, went in triumph to Jerusalem: the father-
guardian every Palm Sunday now superstitiously imitating
him.”
They took their resolutions concerning the situation of
this place not elsewhere certainly than from the gospel his-
tory, which seems openly to delineate Bethphage at the
mount Olivet. True, indeed; and yet nothing hinders, but
we may believe the Jews, asserting it to be within the walls
of Jerusalem, since they illustrate the thing with so many
examples ; nor is there any reason, why they should either
feign or dissemble any thing in this matter.
To the determining, therefore, of the business, we must
have recourse, first, to the derivation of the word: Beth-
phage is rendered by some a‘ house or place of a fountain,’
from the Greek Πηγὴ, ““ ἃ fountain :” but this is something
hard: by the Glosser in Bava Mezia, in the place last cited,
it is rendered, a paved ‘ causeway ;’ ‘‘ The outmost compass
of Jerusalem (saith he), which they added to it, is called Beth-
phage, and seems to me to denote a beaten way.” To which
that of the Targumists seems to agree, who render poy Os
Tw “ At the valley of Shaveh,” Gen. xiv. 17, N35 seine.
[ Zn valle expedita, Buxt.| But what need is there of wan-
h [Travels, p. 197. i Id. Bava Mezia, fol. go. 1.
k English folio edition, vol. 11. p. 37.
en
Kedron. 83
dering abroad either into a strange or more unusual dialect,—
when the word "35 Phagi most vulgarly, and in all men’s
mouths, denotes “green figs,” which mount Olivet was not a
little famous for? For although it took its name from ‘ Olives’
yet it produced both ‘fig’ trees and ‘ palms;’ and according
to the variety of these, growing in divers tracts of the mount,
80 various names were imposed upon those tracts, which we
note elsewhere. That lowest part, therefore, of the moun-
tain, which runs out next the city, is called, from the green
figs, ‘“‘ Bethphage:” by which name also that part of Jeru-
salem, next adjacent, is called, by reason of the vicinity of
that place. And from these things, well regarded, one may,
more rightly and plainly, understand the story of Christ
coming this way.
He had lodged in Bethany, the town of Lazarus, John
xli.I. From thence, in the morning, going onward, he is
said to come to Bethphage, and Bethany, Mark xi.1; that
is, to that place, where those tracts of the mountain, known
by those names, did touch upon one another. And when he
was about to ascend into heaven, he is said to lead out his
disciples, Ἕως εἰς Βηθανίαν, “as far as Bethany,” Luke
xxiv. 50; but not farther than a sabbath-day’s journey,
Acts i. (2; whereas the town, where Lazarus dwelt, was
almost twice as far, John xi. 18. He went, therefore, out of
Jerusalem through Bethphage within the walls, and Beth-
phage without the walls,—and measuring a sabbath-day’s
journey, or thereabouts, arrived at that place and tract of
Olivet, where the name of Bethphage ceased, and the name
of Bethany began; and there he ascended. I doubt, there-
fore, whether there was any town in Olivet called Bethphage ;
but rather a great tract of the mountain was so called ; and
the outermost street of Jerusalem within the walls was called
by the same name, by reason of its nearness to that tract.
CHAP. XXXVIII.
Kedron.
To! ᾿Ελαιῶν καλούμενον ὄρος, ὃ τῇ πόλει πρὸς ἀνατολὴν ἀντί-
κειται, μέσῃ φάραγξ βαθεῖα διείργει, ἣ Κεδρὼν ὠνόμασται: “A
ἱ Joseph. de Bell. lib. v. cap. 8. [Hudson, p. 1216. ]. 45.1 [v. 2. 3.]
«9
~
84 Chorographical century.
deep bottom, called Kedron, bounds the mount of Olives,
which lies against the city eastward.” 77) fra WT wa5
man “ 'They™ built a foot-causeway, or a foot-bridge, upheld
with arches, from the mount of the Temple to the mount of
Olives, upon which they led away the red cow (to be burned).
In like manner, such a foot-causeway they made, upon which
they led away the scape-goat : both were built at the charges
of the public treasure, which was in the Temple.” ‘The reason
of that curiosity concerning the red cow was this :—when the
ashes of that cow were especially purifying above all other
things (for they cleansed from the uncleanness contracted by
the touch of a dead person), they thought no caution enough
to keep him safe from uncleanness, who was to burn the
cow. When, therefore, there might be, perhaps, some sepul-
chres not seen, in the way he was to go, whereby he might
be defiled, and so the whole action be rendered useless,—
they made him a path, at no small cost, all the way, upon
arches joining to one another, where it was not possible to
touch a place of burial. The like care and curiosity was used
in leading away the scape-goat.
The” sheaf of first-fruits® was reaped from the Ashes’-valley
of the brook Kedron. The first day? of the feast of the
Passover, certain persons, deputed from the Sanhedrim, went
forth into that valley. a great company attending them; and
very many out of the neighbouring towns flocked together,
that the thing might be done, a great multitude being pre-
sent. And the reason of the pomp was fetched thence,
because the Baithuseans, or Sadducees, did not think well of
doing that action on that day: therefore, that they might
cross that crossing opinion, they performed the business with
as much show as could be. “ When it was now even, he,
on whom the office of reaping laid, saith, ‘The sun is set ;’
and they answered, ‘ Well.’—‘ The sun is set; and they
answered, ‘ Well.’-—‘ With this reaping-hook ;/ and they
answered, ‘ Well..—* With this reaping-hook ;*° and they
answered, ‘ Well.—‘ In this basket ;’ and they answered,
‘ Well.—* In this basket ;? and they answered, ‘ Well’—
τὰ Maimon. in Shekalim, cap. 4. 8. ο Menachoth, cap. το. et ‘Tosapht.
n English folio edition, vol. 11. ibid.
p. 38. P Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 200.
The valley of Hinnom. 85
If it were the sabbath, he said, ‘On this sabbath ; and they
answered, ‘ Well.—‘ On this sabbath ;’ and they answered,
‘ Well. —I will reap ;’ and they answered, ‘ Reap’—‘I will
reap ;’ and they answered, ‘ Reap.’ This he said thrice ; and
they answered thrice, ‘ Well.’ ”
Inq the place, marked in the margin, they are treating
concerning removing a sepulchre, seated in an inconvenient
place, that it might not pollute any man. Examples are
brought-in of the sepulehres of the house of David, which
were moved out of their places,—and of the sepulchres of the
sons of Huldah, which were within Jerusalem, and were not
moved out of their places. ‘“ Hence it appears (saith R.
Akibah), that there was a certain cave, whereby filth and
uncleanness was carried down into the valley of Kedron.”
By such a pipe and evacuation under-ground, did the
filth of the Court of the Temple run into the valley of
Kedron. ‘“ The* blood poured at the foot of the altar
MAND PAWN flowed into a pipe, and emptied itself into
the valley of Kedron: and it was sold to the gardeners to
dung their gardens.”
CHAP XX XX:
The Valley of Hinnom, DIF δ,
A erear part of the valley of Kedron was called also the
‘ Valley of Hinnom. Jeremiah, going forth into the valley
of Hinnom, went out by the gate MoO INT “ Hacharsith, the
Sun-gate,” Jer. xix. 2; that is, the Rabbinss and others
being interpreters, ‘ by the Hast-gate.’? For thence was the
beginning of the valley of Hinnom, which, after some space,
bending itself westward, ran out along the south side of the
city.
There is no need to repeat those very many things, which
are related of this place in the Old Testament ; they are his-
torical. The mention of it in the New is only mystical and
metaphorical, and is transferred to denote the place of the
damned. Under the second Temple, when those things were
vanished, which had set an eternal mark of infamy upon this
4 Hieros. Nazir, fol. 57. 4. τ Bab. Joma, fol. 58. 2.
5. See Kimchi upon the place.
86 Chorographical century.
place, to wit, idolatry, and the howlings of infants roasted to
Moloch,—yet so much of the filthiness, and of the abomin-
able name remained, that even now it did as much bear to
the life the representation of hell, as it had done before.
It was the common sink of the whole city; whither all
filth, and all kind of nastiness, met. It was, probably, the
common burying-place of the city (if so be, they did now
bury within sd small a distance from the city). ‘They shall
bury in Tophet, until there be no more any place,” Jer. vil. 32.
And there was there also a continual fire, whereby bones, and
other filthy things, were consumed, lest they might offend or
infect the city. “ There was a tradition according to the
school of Rabban Jochanan Ben Zaccai. There’ are two
palm-trees in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, between which a
smoke arises: and this is that we learn, ‘The palms of the
mountain are fit for iron.’ And,‘ This is the door of Ge-
henna.’”
Some of the Rabbins apply that of Isaiah hither, chap. Ixvi,
verse the last : ‘‘ They shall go out, and see the dead careases
of the men, that rebel against me; for their worm shall not
die, and their fire shall not be quenched.”—“ Those Gentiles
(saith Kimehi upon the place) who come to worship from
month to month, and from sabbath to sabbath, shall go out
without Jerusalem into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and shall
see the carcases of Gog and Magog,” &e. And a little after ;
‘The just shall go out without Jerusalem into the valley of
Hinnom, and shall see those that rebel,” ἕο.
What" is to be resolved concerning the ‘ valley of Jeho-
shaphat,’ he himself doubts, and leaves undetermined : “ For
either Jehoshaphat (saith he*) here erected some building, or
did some work, or it is called ‘ the valley of Jehoshaphat’ be-
cause of judgment.” So also Jarchi [on Joel iil. 2.); YW
mp ΒΦ “Jehoshaphat means all one with the ‘ judgments of
the Lord.’” Chald. 83°54 pin, « distributionem Judicii.”
t Bab. Erubhin, fol. 19. 1. u English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 30.
* Kimchi upon Joel ii.
Mount Olivet. 87
CHAP. XL.
Mount Olivet. OOS IT The Mount of Olives, 2 Sam. xv. 30.
Zech. xiv. 4. In the Rabbins commonly, MBDA AW The
Mount of Oil.
“Ὄρος Υ τὸ προσαγορευόμενον ᾿Ελαιῶν, ὃ καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἀντι-
κρὺς κείμενον, ἀπέχει στάδια πέντε. The mount called the
mount of Olives, lying over against the city, is distant five
furlongs.” But Luke saith, Acts i.12, “Then they returned
from the mount called Olivet, ὅ ἐστιν ἐγγὺς Ἱερουσαλὴμ σαβ-
βάτου ἔχον ὁδόν" “ which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath-day’s
journey.” But now a sabbath-day’s journey contained eight
furlongs, or a whole mile. Neither yet, for all this, doth
Luke fight against Josephus. For this last measures the
space to the first foundation of Olivet; the other, to that
place of Olivet, where our Saviour ascended. The first foot
of the mount was distant five furlongs from the city; but
Christ, being about to ascend, went up the mountain three
furlongs farther.
The mount had its name from the Olive-trees, however
other trees grew in it; and that, because the number of
these perhaps was greater, and the fruit better. Among
other trees, two cedars are mentioned, or rather two mon-
sters of cedars. “ Two# cedars (they say) were in the mount
of Olivet, under one of which were four shops, where all
things needful for purifications were sold: out of the other,
they fetched, every month, forty seahs” (certain measures)
“ οὗ pigeons, whence all the women to be purified were sup-
plied.”
It is a dream like that story, that, beneath this mountain,
all the dead are to be raised. ‘“ When the dead shall live
again (say they>), mount Olivet is to be rent in two, and all
the dead of Israel shall come out thence; yea, those right-
eous persons, who died in captivity, shall be rolled under
the earth, and shall come forth under the mount of Olivet.”
There was a place in the mount, directly opposite against
y Joseph. Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 6. ἃ Hieros. Taanith, fol. 69. τ.
[ Hudson, p. 893. 1. 40.] [xx. 8. 6.] > Targum upon Cant. viil. 1.
2 Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 201.
88 Chorographical century.
the east gate of the Temple, to® which the priest, that was
to burn the red cow, went along a foot-bridge laid upon
arches, as it was said before. And4 when he sprinkled
its blood there, he directly levelled his eyes at the Holy of
Holies.
Those signal flames also, accustomed to be waved up and
down on the top of this mount in token of the new moon
now stated, are worthy of mention. The custom and man-
ner is thus described : “ Formerly®, they held up flames ;
but when the Cutheans spoiled this, it was decreed, that
they should send messengers.” The Gloss is this; ‘‘ They
held up the flames presently after the time of the new moon
was stated: and there was no need to send messengers to
those, that were afar off in captivity, to give them notice of
the time; for those flames gave notice: and the Cutheans
sometime held up flames in an undue time, and so deceived
Israel.”
The text goes forward: “ον did they hold up the
flames? They took long staves of cedar, and canes, and fat-
wood, and the coarse part of the flax, and bound these to-
gether with a thread. And one, going up to the mount, put
fire to it, and shakes the flame up and down, this way and
that way, until he sees another doing so in a second moun-
tain, and another so in a third mountain. But whence did
they lift up these flames first ¢ namno> amon ama From
the mount of Olivet to Sartaba ; from Sartaba to Gryphena ;
from Gryphena to Hauran; from Hauran to Beth Baltin.
And he who held up the flame in Beth Baltin, departed not
thence, but waved his flame up and down, this way and that
way, until he saw the whole captivity abounding in flames,
WNT MAW. The Gemarists inquire, what ‘from Beth
Baltin’ means? This is Biram. What the captivity means ?
Rabh Joseph saith, This is Pombeditha. What means
WNT ΓΛ 29 % There is a tradition, that every one taking a
torch in his hand, goes up upon his house,” &e.
The Jews believe, the Messias shall converse very much
in this mountain: which is agreeable to truth and reason.
For when they think his primary seat shall be at Jerusalem,
© See Middoth, cap. i. hal. 2. a Parah, cap. 111. hal. 9.
© Rosh Hashanah, cap. ii. hal. 2. 3, &e.
Mount Olivet. 89
they cannot but believe some such thing of that mount. ΤῸ.
Janna saith f, ΓῺ “ The Divine ὃ Majesty stood three years
and a half in mount Olivet, and preached, saying, ‘ Seek ye
the Lord, while he may be found; call upon him, while he
is near.’”
And now let us from this mountain look back upon the
city. Imagine yourself sitting in that place, where the priest
stood, efile he burnt the red cow, directly over against the
east gate of the Temple. Between the mount and the city
you might see a valley running between, compassing Sion
on the right hand, and Jerusalem on the left: the Gate of
Waters against you, leading to the Temple ; on the left
hand, Ophla and the Horse-gate. From thence, as we have
said, was the beginning of the valley of Hinnom, which, at
length, bowed towards the south side of the city. In that
place, near the wall, was the Fullers’ field ; which whether
it was so called from wood framed together, where fullers
dried their cloth; or ἀπὸ κναφέως μνήματος, ‘from a fuller’s
monument,’ of which Josephus writes,—we do not dispute.
From the Horse-gate, westward, runs out the valley Ke-
dron, in which is a brook, whence the valley takes its name
—embracing Sion also on the north, and spreading abroad
itself in a more spacious breadth.
“ Below! the city, there was a place” (we do not dare to
mark it out) “which was called NYY Motza: hither they
came down” (in the feast of Tabernacles) “ and cropped off
thence long boughs of willow” (it may be, from the banks of
the brook Kedron) ; “ and, going away, placed them near
the sides of the altar,—bended after that manner, that their
heads might bow over the top of the altar,” &e.
It is no marvel, if there were a multitude of gardens
without the city, when there were none within. Among them
‘“‘ak garden of Jerusalem is famed, wherein figs grew, which
were sold for three or four assarii each: and yet neither the
Truma, nor the Tenth, was ever taken of them.”
Josephus hath these words, ’Exrerappevto! ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους
f Midras Tillin. k Maasaroth, cap. ii. hal. 5.
& English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 40. ! De Bello. (Hudson, peer2ens. I.
Ὦ De Bello, lib. v. cap. 13. [v.4.2.] 45.] [v. 2. 2.]
1 Succah, cap. iv. hal. 5.
90 Chorographical century.
περὶ τὰς κηπείας, ἄς. ‘“ The gardening was all compassed
about from the wall with trenches; and every thing was di-
vided with crooked gardens, and many walls.”
CHAP. XLI™.
Bethany. 9271 TA: Beth-hene.
Brruany seems to be the same with ὙΓΤ M1 among the
Talmudists. Of which they write thus. They” treat in the
place, noted in the margin, concerning eating of fruits the
seventh year, and concerning \{y7. Beor, of which we have
spoke before®. They inquire, How long one may eat of these
or the other fruits?—And they state the business thus:
«“ They eat Olives (say they) until the last ceases in Tekoa.
R. Eleazar saith, Until the last ceases in Gush Chalab” (in
the tribe of Asher). ‘‘ They eat dry figs, until green figs cease
ΓΙ M52 in Beth-hene. Τὰ. Judah saith, The green figs of
Beth-hene are not mentioned; unless in respect of the tenths;
as the tradition is, DWT ΠΝ WT md UD &e. The
figs of Beth-hene, and the dates of Tubni, are bound to be
tithed.” The Gloss is this; “They are not mentioned in the
schools among fruits, unless in respect of tithing.” These
words are recited in Erubhin: whereP the word ΣΤ M2
Beth-hene is writ, “YN Beth-jone, and aw Tubni is writ
SHDw Tubina.
Beth-hene certainly seems to be the same altogether with
our Bethany; and the name to be drawn from the word 338
Ahene, which signifies the “ dates of palm-trees,” not come
to ripeness: as the 535 also signifies “ green-figs,” that is,
such figs as are not yet ripe.
And now take a prospect a little of mount Olivet. Here
you may see olive-trees; and in that place is Gethsemane,
“The place of oil-presses.” There you may see palm-trees
growing; and that place is called Bethany, 57 M1 “The
place of dates.” And we may observe in the gospel-history,
how those that met Christ, as he was going forward from
Bethany, had branches of palm-trees ready at hand. ‘There
you may see fig-trees growing; and that place was called
Bethphage, “ The place of green-figs.”
m Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 202. ο Chap. i.
n Bab. Pesachin, fol. 53. 1. P Erubhin, fol. 28. 2.
-
Scopo. 91
Therefore, some part of Olivet was called Bethany from
the palm-trees; there was a town also, called of the same
name, over-against it. ‘The town was fifteen furlongs distant
from Jerusalem. And the coast of that name went on, till
it reached the distance of a sabbath-day’s journey only from
the city.
CHAP. XLII)!
MDW. Σκοπός. Scopo.
In that manner as mount Olivet lay over-against the city
on the east, the valley of Kedron running between,—so, on
the north, behind a valley somewhat broader, stretched out
from Sion northward, the land swelled into a hill, at the place
which from thence was called Zophim ; because thence there
was a prospect on all sides, but especially towards the city.
Concerning it Josephus’ thus: “ Cesar, when he had
received a legion by night from Ammaus, the day after
moving his tents thence, Ez? τὸν Σκοπὸν καλούμενον πρόσεισιν'
Ἔνθεν ἥ τε πόλις ἤδη κατεφαίνετο, καὶ τὸ τοῦ ναοῦ μέγεθος ἔκλαμ-
προν, &c. He entered into Scopo so called. Where the city
appeared, and the greatness of the Temple shining out: as
that plain tract of land, touching upon the north coast of the
city, is truly called Scopus, The Viewer.”
Hence those canons and cautions: “ Hes that pisseth, let
him turn his face to the north: he that easeth nature, to the
south. R.Josi Ben R. Bon saith, The tradition is, From
Zophim and within :”—that is, if this be done by any one
from Zophim inwards, when he is now within the prospect
of the city ; when he pisseth, let him turn his face to the
north, that he do not expose his modest parts before the
Temple: when he easeth nature, let him turn his face to the
south, that he expose not his buttocks before it.
“Tft any one, being gone out of Jerusalem, shall remember,
that holy flesh is in his hand, if he be now gone beyond
Zophim, let him burn it in the place where he is.” (For it
is polluted by being carried out of the walls of Jerusalem.)
“ But if he be not beyond Zophim, let him go back, and burn
4 English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 41. 5. Hieros. Beracoth, fol. 13. 2.
© Joseph. de Bello, lib. v. cap. 8. * Bab. Beracoth, fol. 49. 2.
[Hudson, p. 1216. 1. 31.] [v. 2. 3.]
92 Chorographical century.
it before the Temple.’’ Where the Gloss thus; ‘ Zophim is
a place whence the Temple may be seen.” But another
Gloss doth not understand the thing here of that proper
place, but of the whole compass about the city, wheresoever
the city could first be seen. So R. Eliezer, of Abraham,
going from the south to Jerusalem, “ The" third day they
came to Zophim: but when he eame to Zophim, he saw the
glory of the Divine Majesty sitting upon the Mount”
(Moriah).
CHAP. XLIII.*
Ramah. Ramathaim Zophim. Gibeah.
Tuere was a certain Ramah, in the tribe of Benjamin,
Josh. xviii. 25, and that within sight of Jerusalem, as it
seems, Judg. xix. 13; where it is named with Gibeah :—and
elsewhere, Hos. v.8; which towns were not much distant.
See 1 Sam. xxii. 6; “ Saul sat in Gibeah, under a grove in
Ramah.” Here the Gemaristsy trifle: ‘‘ Whence is it (say
they) that Ramah is placed near Gibea? To hint to you, that
the speech of Samuel of Ramah was the cause, why Saul re-
mained two years and a half in Gibeah.” ‘They blindly look
over Ramah in the tribe of Benjamin,—and look only at
Ramah in Ephraim, where Samuel was born.
His native town is very often called Ramah, once Ra-
mathaim Zophim, 1 Sam. 1.1. ‘There was a certain man of
Ramathaim:” that is, one of the two Ramaths, which were
surnamed also ‘ Zophim.’ A like form of speech is that
1 Sam. xvii. 21; 02 JANA ownwa “In one of the two,
thou shalt be my son-in-law.” That town of Samuel was
Ramath Zophim; and this of Benjamin, was Ramath Zophim
also: but by a different etymology, as it seems :—that, it
may be, from Zuph, Saul’s great-great-grandfather, whence
that country was so called, 1 Sam. ix. 5; this, from Zophim,
of which place we have spoke in the foregoing chapter.
Gibeah was Saul’s town. Koy? Γαβαθ-Σαούλη καλουμένη.
Σημαίνει δὲ τοῦτο λόφον Σαούλου" διέχοντα ἀπὸ τῶν ἱἹεροσολύ-
μῶν, ὅσον ἀπὸ τριάκοντα σταδίων" “ The town called Gabath-
ἃ Pirke R. Eliezer, cap. 31. z Joseph. de Bell. lib. v. c. 6.
x Leusden’s edition, vol. il. p. 203. {Hudson, p. 1215. 1. 27.] [v. 2. 1.]
y Bab. ‘Taanith, fol. 5. 2.
Nob. Bahurim. 93
Saul. ‘This signifieth Saul’s-hill, which is distant from Jeru-
salem about thirty furlongs.” Hence -you may guess at the
distance of Rama from Jerusalem. Josephus calls the neigh-
bouring place of Gibeah, ᾿Ακανθῶν αὐλῶνα" “the long Valley
of Thorns:” perhaps, the valley under the rock Seneh [720 | :
of which mention is made, 1 Sam. xiv. 4. ἡ
CHAPS X LEV.2
Nob. Bahurim.
Tuat Nob was placed in the land of Benjamin, not far
from Jerusalem, whence Jerusalem also might be seen,—the
words of the Chaldee paraphrast, upon Isa. x. 32, do argue.
For so he speaks ; “ Sennacherib came and stood in Nob, a
city of the priests, before the walls of Jerusalem; and said
to his army, ‘Is not this the city of Jerusalem, against which
I have raised my whole army, and have subdued all the pro-
vinees of it? Is it not small and weak in comparison of all
the fortifications of the Gentiles, which I have subdued by
the valour of my hand? He stood nodding with his head
against it, and wagging his hand up and down,” &c. Where
Kimchi thus; “Jerusalem might be seen from Nob. Which
when he saw from thence, he wagged his hand, as a man is
wont to do, when he despiseth any thing,” &e. And Jarchi
thus; ‘“‘ When he stood at Nob, he saw Jerusalem,” ὅσο.
The Talmudists> do coneur also in the same sense with
the Chaldee paraphrast, and in his very words; adding this
moreover,—that all those places, which are numbered-up by
Isaiah in the place alleged, were travelled through by the
enemy with his army in one day.
The tabernacle sometime resided at Nob, when that was
destroyed, it was translated to Gibeon. ‘‘ And the days of
Nob and Gibeon” (they are the words of Maimonides‘) “ were
seven-and-fifty years.”
We meet with mention of Bahurim, 2 Sam. xvi. 5. It
was a Levitical city, the same with Almon, Josh. xxi. 18 ;
which is also called Alemeth, 1 Chron. vi. 60. Those words,
‘And David came to Bahurim,” in the place alleged in the
a English folio edit. vol. ii. p.42. » Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 94. 2. and 95. 1.
© Maim. in Beth Habbechirah, cap. τ.
94 Chorographical century.
Book of Samuel, the Chaldee renders, ἽΝ) sobs TT NMOS
maby “ And David the king came to Almath.” Where
Kimchi thus; “ Bahurim was a city of the Benjamites, and is
called in the Books of the Chronicles, ‘ Alemeth;’ for Bahurim
and Alemeth are the same.” Both sound as much as, young
men.
CHAP. XLV.
Emmaus. Kiriath-jeariim.
“From Beth-horon? to Emmaus it was hilly.-—It® was
sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem.—’Oxrakocious ἢ δὲ po-
νοις, ἀπὸ τῆς στρατιᾶς διαφιεμένοις, χωρίον ἔδωκεν (Οὐεσπασιανὸς)
εἰς κατοίκησιν, ὃ καλεῖται μὲν ᾿Αμμαοῦς, ἀπέχει δὲ τῶν Ἱεροσολύ-
μὼν σταδίους ἑξήκοντα. “ To eight hundred only, dismissed
the army, (Vespasian) gave a place, called Ammaus, for them
to inhabit : it is sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem.”
I inquire, whether this word hath the same etymology
with Emmaus near Tiberias, which, from the ‘ warm baths,’
was called yam Chammath. The Jews certainly do write
this otherwise ; namely, either DINDN, as the Jerusalem Tal-
mudists in the place above cited; or, DINO VY, as the Misna.
“Theg family (say they) of Beth-Pegarim, and Beth Zip-
peria was DINO YD out of Emmaus.”—The Gloss is this ;
“ Emmaus was the name of a place, whose inhabitants were
Israelite gentlemen, and the priests married their daughters.”
Josephus, mentioning some noblemen, slainh by Simeon
the tyrant, numbers one Aristeus, who was “ ai scribe of the
council γένος ἐξ ᾿Αμμαοῦς, and by extraction from Ammaus.”
By the same author is mentioned also “Avavos* 6 ἀπ᾽ ’Ap-
μαοῦς, “ Ananus of Ammaus,” one of the seditious of Jeru-
salem; who nevertheless at last fled over to Czesar.
Kiriath-jearim was before-time called Baale, 2 Sam. vi. 2 ;
or Baalath, 1 Chron. xiii. 6. Concerning it, the Jerusalem
writers speak thus; ‘“ We! find, that they intercalated the
year in Baalath. But Baalath was sometimes assigned to
Judah, and sometimes to Dan. Eltekah, and Gibbethon, and
4 Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 38. 4. h Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 204.
e Luke xxiv. 13. i De Bello, lib. v. cap. 33. [Vv.
f Joseph. de Bello, lib. vii. cap.27. 13. 1,]
{Hudson, p. 1311. 1. 15.]'[vii. 6. 6.] k Jbid. lib. vi. cap. 23. [vi. 4. 2.]
& Erachin, cap. 2. hal. 4. 1 Hieros. Sanhedr. fol. 18. 3.
The country of Jericho. 95
Baaleth ; behold, these are Judah.” (Here is a mistake of
the transcribers, for it should be written, of Dan, Josh. xix.
44.) “ Baalah, and Jiim, and Azem,—behold, these are of
Dan” (it should be written, of Judah, Josh. xv. 29); “ namely,
the houses were of Judah,—the fields of Dan.”
In™ Pgal. exxxii. 6; “ We heard of it” aoa ele) ‘Sin
Ephratah” (that is, Shiloh, a city of Ephraim) ; ‘we found
it in the fields of the wood” Ὁ" “Twa, that is, in Kiriath-
jearim, 1 Sam. vii. 1, &c.)
CHAP. XLV
he country of Jericho, and the situation of the City.
Here we will borrow Josephus’s™ pencil, Ἵδρυται μὲν ἐν
πεδίῳ, ψιλὸν δὲ ὑπέρκειται αὐτῆς καὶ ἄκαρπον ὄρος μήκιστον, &e.
κεν ΘΥΊΘ ΠΟ is seated in a plain, yet a certain barren mountain
hangs over it, narrow, indeed, but long; for it runs out north-
ward to the country of Scythopolis,—and southward, to the
country of Sodom, and the utmost coast of the Asphaltites.”
Of this mountain mention is made, Josh. ii. 22, where the
two spies, sent by Joshua, and received by Rahab, are said
to ‘‘ conceal themselves.”
᾿Αντίκειται δὲ τούτῳ τὸ περὶ τὸν ᾿Ιορδάνην ὄρος, &e. “ Op-
posite against this, lies a mountain on the other side Jordan,
beginning from Julias on the north, and stretched southward
as far as Somorrha, which bounds the rock of Arabia. In
this is a mountain, which is called the Jron mountain, reach-
ing out as far as the land of Moab. But the country which
ies between these two mountainous places, is called the Great
Plain (Μέγα πεδίον), extended from the village Ginnaber to
the lake Asphaltites, in length a thousand two hundred fur-
longs” (a hundred and fifty miles), “in breadth, a hundred
and twenty furlongs” (fifteen miles); and Jordan cuts it in
the middle.”
Hence you may understand more plainly those things that
are related of “ the plains of Jericho,” 2 Kings xxv. 5; and
what ἡ περίχωρος τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, “ the region about Jordan,”
means, Matt. 11. 5.
᾿Απέχει δὲ Ἱεροσολύμων μὲν σταδίους ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα, τοῦ
m English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 43.
n Jos. de Bello, lib. iv. cap. 27. [Hudson, p. 1193. 1. 28.[ [iv. 8. 2.]
90 Chorographical century.
δὲ Ιορδάνου ἑξήκοντα, &e. ‘ Jericho is distant from Jerusa-
lem a hundred and fifty furlongs” (eighteen miles and three
quarters), “and from Jordan sixty furlongs” (seven miles and
a half). ‘ The space from thence to Jerusalem is desert and
rocky ; but to Jordan and the Asphaltites, more plain, indeed,
but alike desert, and barren.”
This our author asserts the same distance between Jericho
and Jordan elsewhere, in these words: Oi° δὲ, πεντήκοντα
προελθόντες στάδια, βάλλονται στρατόπεδον ἀπὸ δέκα σταδίων τῆς
Ἱεριχοῦντος" “ But the Israelites, travelling forward fifty fur-
longs from Jordan, encamped the distance of ten furlongs
from Jericho :” that is, in Gilgal, in the east coast of Jericho,
Josh. iv. 19.
But concerning the distance between Jericho and Jeru-
salem, he does not seem to agree with his countrymen. For,
however they, according to their hyperbolical style, feign
very many things to be heard from Jerusalem as far as Je-
richo,—to witP, the sound of the gate of the Temple, when it
was opened,—the sound of Migrephah, or the little bell, &e.
yet there are some of them, who make it to be the distance
of ‘ten parse.’ “ Rabbath4 Bar Bar Channah saith, Rabbi
Jochanan saith, 07D ° sow ‘wr from Jerusalem to
Jericho were ten parse: and yet, from thence thither the
voice of the high-priest, in the day of expiation, pronouncing
the name Jehovah, was heard, &c. The hinges of the gates
of the Temple are heard NAW YSINN ΓΞ as far as the
eighth bound of the sabbath ;” that is, as far as a sabbath-day’s
journey eight times numbered. The Gloss hath these words ;
“The hinges, indeed, not farther, but the gates themselves
are heard to Jericho.” There is an hyperbole in their mea-
suring of the space, as well as in the rest.
᾿Εκπυρῶται δὲ ὥρᾳ θέρους τὸ πεδίον, καὶ δι’ ὑπερβολὴν αὐχ-
μοῦ περιέχει νοσώδη τὸν ἀέρα, &e. “Απά that plain burns in
the summer, and, by too much heat, renders the air unhealth-
ful: for it is all without water, except Jordan ; the palms that
grow in whose banks are more flourishing and more fruitful
than those that grow more remote.”
Παρὰ μέντοι τὴν ἱΙεριχοῦντά ἐστι πυγὴ, δαψιλής τε, καὶ πρὸς
9° Antiq. lib. v. cap. 1. [νι 1. 4. P Tamid, cap. 111. hal. 8.
9 Bab. Joma, fol. 20. 2. et 39. 2.
The country of Jericho. 91
ἀρδείας λιπαρώτατη, παρὰ τὴν παλαιὰν ἀναβλύζουσα πόλιν, &e.
“ Near Jericho" is a very plentiful spring, and very rich for
watering’ and moistening the ground; it riseth near the
old city, and Jesus the son of Nave took it. Of which spring
there is a report, that, in former times, it did not only make
the fruits of the earth and of the trees to decay, but also the
offspring of women; and was universally unwholesome and
harmful to all: but it was changed into a better condition
by Elizeus, &c. (see 2 Kings ii. 21). So that those waters,
which before were the cause of barrenness and famine, did
thenceforth produce fruitfulness and abundance: and they
have so great' a virtue in their watering, that whatsoever
place they touch, they bring on to a very speedy ripeness.”
Καὶ πεδίον μὲν ἔπεισιν ἑβδομήκοντα σταδίων μῆκος, edpos δὲ
εἴκοσιν" “ And they overflow the plain seventy furlongs in
length, and twenty in breadth: and there they nourish very
fair and thick gardens of palm-trees of divers kinds, ὅσο.
That place also feeds bees, and produceth opobalsamum, and
cyprinum, and myrobalanum: so that one might not eall it
amiss Θεῖον τὸ χωρίον, ‘a divine country,’” &e.
Strabo" speaks like things, ‘lepixods δέ ἐστι πεδίον κύκλῳ
περιεχόμενον ὀρεινῇ τινι, &e. ‘ Jericho is a plain surrounded
with mountains, which in some places bend to it after the
manner of a theatre. A grove of palm-trees is there, with
which are mixed also other garden plants, a fruitful place,
abounding with palm-trees for the space of a hundred fur-
longs, all well watered, and full of habitations. The royal
court and paradise of balsam is there,” &e.
And Pliny*; “ Jericho, planted with groves of palms, and
well watered with springs,” ὅσο.
Hence the city is called, the ‘ city of palm-trees,’”’ Deut.
Xxxlv. 3, and Judg. i. 16: where for that, which, in the He-
brew, is OMIA Vy, Lrom the city of palim-trees, the
Targum hath IW NO) ya Lrom the city Jericho:
which nevertheless Kimchi approves not of, reckoning the
city of palm-trees to be near Hebron: whom see. See also
τ Hudson, 1194. 6. u Strabo, Geogr. lib. xvi. [c. 2.]
8 Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 205. x Plin. lib. v. cap. 14.
τ English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 44.
LIGHTFOOT, VOL, I. H
98 Chorographical century.
the Targum upon Judg. iii. 13, and Kimchi there; and the
Targum upon Judg. iv. 5.
When you take a view of that famous fountain, as it is
described by Josephus, thence you understand what waters
of Jericho the Holy Ghost points out in Josh. xvi. 1.—And
when you think of that most pleasant country watered from
thence, let that Rabbinical story come into your mind, of
soy Sw awn The gift of Jericho, of five hundred cubits
square, granted to the suns of Hobab, Moses’s father-in-law :
of which see Baal Turim, upon Num. x. 29, and the Rabbins
upon Judg. i.
CHAP. XLV il
Jericho itself.
We read, that this city was not only wasted by Joshua
with fire and sword, but cursed also. ‘ Cursed be he before
the Lord, who shall rise up and build that city Jericho,” Josh.
vi. 26. “ΝΟΥ was another city to be built (says the Tal-
mudists Y), which was to be called by the name of Jericho:
nor was Jericho itself to be built, although to be ealled by
another name.” And yet I know not by what chance this
city erept out of dust and rubbish, lived again, and flourished,
and became the second city to Jerusalem. The same per-
sons which were just now cited, suppose that the restorer of
it was Hiel, the son of Jehoshaphat, to wit, the same with
Jechiel, 2 Chron. xxi. 2; “ Hiel (say they2) was of Jehosha-
phat, and Jericho of Benjamin.” And that is a just scruple,
which R. David@ objects,—how it came about, that the pious
king Jehoshaphat should suffer such a horrid thing to be
done within his kingdom? Much more, how this should have
been done by his son! Let them dispute the business; we
hasten somewhere else.
That, which ought not to be done,—being once done,
stands good. [116] did a eursed thing in building Jericho :
yet Jericho was not to be cursed, being now built. A little
aiter its restoration, it was made noble by the schools of the
prophets, 2 Kings 11.5; and it flourished with the rest of
the cities of Judea unto the destruction of the nation by the
Babylonians.
y Hieros. Sanhedr. fol. 29. 4. z Td. ibidem.
@ Kimchi upon 1 Kings xvi.
Jericho itself. 99
It flourished more under the second 'I'emple, so that it
gave place to no city in Judea; yea, all gave place to it,
besides Jerusalem. A royal palace» was in it, where Herod®
ended his days: a Hippodromus4, where the Jewish nobility,
being imprisoned by him, were to be slain, when he expired :
an amphitheatre’, where his will was publicly opened, and
read over; and sometime a sessions of the Sanhedrim, and
“a noble troop of those, that waited in their courses at the
Temple.”
«“Thef elders sometime assembled together in the cham-
ber Beth-gadia in Jericho: the Bath Kol went forth, and
said to them, There are two among you, who are fit to receive
the Holy Ghost, and Hillel is one of them: they cast their
eyes upon Samuel the Little, as the second. Another time
the elders assembled together in a chamber in Jafne; the
Bath Kol went forth, and said, There are two among you,
who are fit to receive the Holy Ghost, and Samuel the Little
is one of them: they cast their eyes upon R. Lazar. And
they rejoiced, that their judgment agreed with the sentence
of the Holy Ghost.”
“ Theres is a tradition», that there were, at Jerusalem,
twenty-four thousand men of the station ; and half a station”
(that is, twelve thousand men) “ at Jericho. Jericho also
could have produced a whole station; but because she would
give place to Jerusalem, she produced only the half of a
station.”
Behold !i five hundred men of every course residing at
Jericho! But what were they? They were ready at hand to
supply any courses that wanted, if there were any such at
Jerusalem ; and they took care of supplying them with neces-
saries, who officiated at Jerusalem. Hence it is the less to
be wondered at, if you hear of a priest and a Levite passing
along in the parable of him, that travelled between Jerusalem
and Jericho, Luke x. 31, 32.
In so famous and populous a town, there could not but
be some council of three-and-twenty, one, at least, of more
Ὁ Strabo, lib. xvi. [e. 2.] 55:8:
¢ Joseph. Antigq. lib. xvii. cap. 10. f Hieros. Avod. Zarah, fol. 42. 3.
[xvii. 8. ] & English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 45.
4 Ibid. cap. 8. [xvii. 6. 5.] h Hieros. Taanith, fol. 67. 4.
e Id. de Bello, lib. 1. cap. ult. i Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 206.
H 2
100 Chorographical century.
remark, if not more,—when so many of the stations dwelling
there were at hand, who were fit to be employed in govern-
ment; and so many to be governed.
WY WINK « The men of Jericho are famed for six things
done by them: in three of which the chief council consented
to them, but in the other three they consented not.” Those
things, concerning which they opposed them not, were
these :—
(Pep ph | bs ober ΘΚ ΒΥ Σ They ingrafted, or folded,
together, palm-trees every day.” Here is need of a long
commentary, and they produce one, but very obscure. The
business of the men of Jericho was about palm-trees ; which
they either joined together, and mingled males with females,
or they ingrafted, or (as they commonly say) inoculated the
more tender sprouts of the branches into those, that were
older. So much indulgence was granted them by the wise
men concerning the time, wherein these things are done,
which, elsewhere, would scarely have been suffered ; unless,
as it seems, the nature of the place, and of the groves of
palms, required it.
IT. prow MS Prd “ They folded up the recitations of
their phylacteries :”” that is, either not speaking them out
distinctly; or omitting some doxologies or prayers; or pro-
nouncing them with too shrill a voice. See the Gemara and
the Gloss.
IL. say ed pPoTM porziyp “ They reaped, and ga-
thered-in their sheaves, before the sheaf [of first-fruits| was
offered :’ and this, partly, because of the too early ripeness
of their corn in that place; and, partly, because their corn
grew in a very low valley, and therefore it was not accounted
fit to be offered unto the Mincha, or daily sacrifice. See the
Gloss.
The three things, concerning which the wise men consented
not to them, were these :—
I. wap by ΓΒΑ PVN Such fruits and branches,
also certain fruits of the sycamine-trees, which their fathers
had devoted to sacred uses,—they alienated into common,
Il. nawsa Own FANNY pea yge “They ate, on the sab-
bath-day, under the tree, such fruits, as fell from the tree,”
k Pesach. cap. 4. hal. 8.
The country about Jericho. 101
although they were uncertain whether they had fallen on the
sabbath-day or the eve of the sabbath: for such as fell on
the sabbath were forbidden.
III. py MND PIM They granted a corner of the garden
for herbs, in the same manner as a corner of the field was
granted for corn.
Let the description of this city and place be concluded
with those words of the Talmud, in the place! noted in the
margin: “ Do they use a certain form of prayer upon balsam ?
NOOAWNT NMwWPD. Blessed be he, who hath created the
ointment of our land.” The Gloss is, “The ointment of our
land: for it grows at Jericho; and, for its smell, it is called
WH Jericho: and it is that Pannag of which mention is
made in the Book of Ezekiel. ‘Judah and the land of Israel
were thy merchants in wheat of Minnith and Pannag. This
I have seen in the book of Josephus Ben Gorion.” Judge,
reader.
CHAP. XLVII.™
Some miscellaneous matters belonging to the Country
about Jericho.
Ler us begin from the last encampings of Israel beyond
Jordan.
Num. xxxiii.49: “They encamped near Jordan from Beth-
jeshimoth unto Abel-shittim.”—“ From™ Beth-jeshimoth to
Abel-shittim were twelve miles.” It is a most received
opinion among the Jews, that the tents of the Israelites in
the wilderness contained a square of twelve miles. So the
Targum of Jonathan, upon Num. ii. 2; “The encamping of
Israel was twelve miles in length, and twelve miles in breadth.”
And the Gemarists® say, “ It is forbidden a scholar to teach
a tradition before his master, yea, not to do it, until he be
twelve miles distant from him, according to the space of the
encamping of Israel. But whence is that space proved? “ And
they encamped near Jordan from Beth-jeshimoth to Abel-
shittim.’— How far is that? Twelve miles.”
! Bab. Berach. fol. 43. 1. Gittin, fol. 43. 3.
m Hnglish folio edit. vol. ii. p. 46. © Hieros. in the place above.
n Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 36. 3. &
102 Chorographical century.
They? believe, also, that the bulk of the host took up the
same space, while they passed Jordan. Nor is it unfit so to
believe : for it, indeed, seems at least to have taken up a very
large space in its passage: this especially being observed,
that, while the ark stood in the middle of Jordan, none might
come within two thousand cubits near it, Josh. iii. 4. When,
therefore, it is said, “ that the people passed over against
Jordan,” it is to be understood of the middle of the host,—or
of those that carried the ark, and of those that went next
after the ark.
From4 Abel to Jordan, were sixty furlongs (seven miles
and a half). The breadth of Jordan from bank to bank was
but of a moderate space. The Jerusalem Talmudistst do
write thus of it, in some part of it: “A fire sometime passed
over Jordan” (that is, a flame kindled on this bank flew over
to that). ‘* But how far is the flames carried? R. Eleazar
saith, For the most part to sixteen cubits; but when the
wind drives it, to thirty—R. Judah saith, To thirty cubits;
and, when the wind drives it, to fifty—R. Akibah saith, To
fifty cubits ; and when the wind blows, to a hundred.”
From Jordan to Gilgal were fifty furlongs (six miles and a
quarter). Therefore the whole journey of that day, from
Abel to Gilgal, was fourteen miles, or thereabouts. The
Talmudists, being deceived by the ambiguity of the word
baby Gilgal, extend it to sixty" miles, and more: whom see
afterward quoted in the eighty-eighth chapter. It is thus
said in Midras Tillin, “ Saul* went, in one day, threescore
miles.”
Of the stones, set up by Joshua in Jordan and Gilgal, the
Gemarists¥ have these words :—“R. Judah saith, Aba Cha-
laphta, and R. Eleazar Ben Mathia, and Chaninah Ben Cha-
kinai, stood upon those stones, and reckoned them to weigh
forty sata each.”
P Bab. Sotah, fol. 34. 1. in the t Joseph. in the place above.
Gloss. « Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 44. 1.
4 Jos. Antiq. lib. v. cap. 1. [v. x Midr. Till. fol..7. 4.
1:.τ.ἢ Υ Bab. Sotah, 34. 1. Tosapht. in
r Bava Kama, fol. 3. 5. Sotah, cap. 8.
S Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 207.
Hebron. 103
CHAP. XLIX.
Hebron.
From Jericho we proceed to Hebron, far off in situation,
but next to it in dignity: yea, there was a time, when it
went before Jerusalem itself in name and honour ;—namely,
while the first foundations of the kingdom of David were
laid; and, at that time, Jericho was buried in rubbish, and
Jerusalem was trampled upon by the profane feet of the
Jebusites.
Hebron was placed, as in the mountainous country of
Judea, so in a place very rocky, but yet in a very fruitful
coast.
ww OWA, “5 (Jie There? is no place, in all the land of
Israel, more stony than Hebron : thence, a burying-place of
the dead is there.” The Gemarists sift what that means:
« Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt, Num.
xiii. 22.) And they reduce it to this sense, which you may
find cited also in R. Solomon, upon that text of Moses,
“There is no land more excellent than Egypt; as it is said,
“ΑΒ the garden of the Lord, as Egypt: nor is there in Egypt
any place more excellent than Zoan; as it is said, ‘ Her
princes were in Zoan;’ and yet Hebron was seven times
nobler, however it were rocky, than Zoan.” For this tradi-
tion obtained* among them, {IMD OWA ΝΘ shy
“Rams from Moab, lambs from Hebron.” And to this they
apply that of Absalom, “ Let me go, I pray, to Hebron,
that I may pay my vow.—And why to Hebron?—R. Bar Bar
Chanan saith, He went thither, that thence he might fetch
lambs for sacrifice. JOU) SY TI NYS sunday
$8202) For the turf was fine, yielding grass acceptable to
sheep,” &e.
You may observe the situation of Hebron, in respect of
Jerusalem, from those things which are related of a daily
custom and rite in the Temple. “The” president of the
service in the Temple was wont to say every morning, Go,
and see whether it be time to kill the sacrifice. If it were
time, he, that was sent to see, said, "871 It is light. Mathia
z Bab. Sotah, in the place above. Ὁ Joma, cap. 3. hal. 2. Tamid,
a English folio edit. vol.ii. p.47. cap. 3. hal. 2.
104 Chorograplical century.
Ben Samuel said, The whole face of the east is light unto
Hebron : to whom another answers, Well,” &. Upon which
words Rambam¢ thus; ‘* There was a high place in the
Temple, whither he who was sent to see went up; and when
he saw the face of the east shining, he said, INA It is light,
&e. And they who were in the court, said, PAM. STW TW
What! As the light is unto Hebron /—That is, Is the light
come so far, that thine eyes may see Hebron ?—And he an-
swered, Yes.” So also the Gloss upon Tamid; ‘“ The morn-
ing (saith he, who is on the roof) is seen as far as Hebron;
because they could see Hebron thence.”
“ And¢ therefore they made mention of Hebron, (although
the east was on that coast), that the memory of the merit
of those, that were buried in Hebron, might occur at the
daily sacrifice.” They are the words of the author of Ju-
chasin, out of which those are especially to be marked,
“Though the east was on that coast ;” or, “ Though the east
were on that quarter of the heaven.” Consider which words,
and consult the Gemarists upon the place quoted: for they
understand those words,—‘* What! As the light is unto
Hebron ?”—of the light reaching as far as Hebron; just as
the Gloss understands them of his eyes reaching thither that
went to look. All which things compared, come at last to
this,—if credit may be given to these authors,—that Hebron,
however it be placed south of Jerusalem, yet did decline
somewhat towards the east, and might be seen from the
high towers in the Temple and in Jerusalem. Let the reader
judge.
Of Machpelah, the burying-place near Hebron, very many
things are said by very many men. The city was called
Hebron, that is, @ consociation, —perhaps, from the pairs
there buried, Abraham, Isaae, and Jacob, and their wives.
Not a few believe Adam was buried there in like manner:
some, that he was buried once, and buried again. “ Adam
said, (say they*), After my death, they will come perhaps, and,
taking my bones, will worship them; but I will hide my coffin
very deep in the earth, ‘in a cave within a cave.’ It is there-
fore called, tie cave Machpelah, or the doubled eave.”
© Rambam in ΓΙ in Joma. 4 Juchasin, fol. 63. 1.
© Juchasin, fol. 5. 1.
+
The cities of refuge. 105
CHA PeaGst
Of the cities of Refuge.
Hesron, the most eminent among them, excites us to
remember the rest. ‘“ Thes Rabbins deliver this; Moses
separated three cities of refuge beyond Jordan, [ Deut. iv. 41,
42, 43;] and, against them, Joshua separated three cities in
the land of Canaan, [Josh. xx. 7, 8.] And these were placed
by one another, just as two ranks of vines are in a vineyard:
Hebron in Judea against Bezer in the wilderness: Shechem
in mount Ephraim against Ramoth in Gilead: Kedesh in
mount Napthali against Golan in Basan. And these three
were so equally disposed, that there was so much space from
the south coast of the land of Israel to Hebron, as there was
from Hebron to Shechem; and as much from Hebron to
Shechem, as from Shechem to Kedesh; and as much from
Shechem to Kedesh, as from Kedesh to the north coast of
the land.”
It+ was the Sanhedrim’s business to make the ways to
those cities convenient, by enlarging them, and by removing
every stop, against which one might either stumble or dash
his foot. No hillock or river was allowed to be in the way,
over which there was not a bridge: and the way, leading
thither, was, at least, two-and-thirty cubits broad. And in
every double way, or in the parting of the ways, was written
nop. noon “ Refuge, refuge, ”—lest he that fled thither
might mistake the way.
Thei mothers of the high-priest used to feed and clothe
those, that for murder were shut up in the cities of refuge,
that they might not pray for the death of their sons,—since
the fugitive was to be restored to his country and friends at
the death of the high-priest: but if he died before in the city
of refuge, his bones were to be restored after the death of the
high-priest.
The * Jews dream!, that in the days of the Messias, three
other cities are to be added to those six which are mentioned
f Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 208. i Maccoth, fol. 11. 1.
& Bab. Maccoth, fol. 9. 2. k English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 48.
h Maimon. in ΤΙΝῚ, cap. 8. 1 Maimon, in the place above.
106 Chorographical century.
in the Holy Scripture——and they to be among the Kenites,
the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites.— Let them dream on.
“ Let ™ him that kills the high-priest by a sudden chanee,
fly to a city of refuge; but let him never return thence.”
Compare these words with the state of the Jews, killing
Christ.
CHAP. Li,
Beth-lehem.
Tur Jews are very silent about this city : nor do I remember
that I have read any thing in them concerning it, besides
those things which are produced out of the Old Testament ;
this only excepted, that the Jerusalem Gemarists" do confess
that the Messias was born there before their times.
Βηθλεὲμο κώμη τίς ἐστιν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ ᾿Ιουδαίων, ἀπέχουσα
σταδίους τριακονταπέντε ἹἹεροσολύμων" “ Beth-lehem is a certain
town in the land of the Jews, thirty-five furlongs distant from
Jerusalem :” and that towards the south.
The father of the ecclesiastical annals, citing these words
of Eusebius, ᾿Ακμήσαντος Ρ δὲ τοῦ πολέμου ἔτους ὀκτωκαιδεκά-
του τῆς ἡγεμονίας ᾿Αδριανοῦ κατὰ Βήθηκα πόλιν, &e. thus ren-
ders them in Latin; “Jam4 vero, cum, decimo octavo anno
imperti Hadriani, bellum, juxta urbem Beth-lehem nuncu-
patam (que erat rerum omnium przesidiis munitissima, neque
adeo longe a civitate Hierosolymarum sita) vehementius ac-
cenderetur,” &c. ‘“ But now, when in the eighteenth year
of the empire of Adrian, the war was more vehemently kin-
dled near the town called Beth-lehem (which was very well
fortified with all manner of defence, nor was seated far from
the city of Jerusalem),” &c.
The interpreter of Eusebius renders Βήθηκα, Beth-thera :
not illy, however it be not rendered according to the letter :
perhaps « crept into the word instead of p, by the careless-
ness of the copiers. But by what liberty the other should render
it Beth-lehem, let himself see. . Eusebius doth certainly treat
of the city "TA, Betar (it is vulgarly written Bitter), of
the destruction of which the Jews relate very many things
m Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 18. 2. P Euseb. Eccles. Hist. 1. iv. ¢. 6.
" Beracoth, fol. 5. 1. 4 Baron. Annal. ad annum
° Just. Martyr, Apol. 2. p. 75. Christi, 137.
Betar. 107
with lamentation : which certainly is scarcely to be reckoned
the same with Beth-lehem.
The same father of the annals adds, that Beth-lehem, from
the times of Adrian to the times of Constantine, was pro-
faned by the temple of Adonis: for the asserting of which
he cites these words of Paulinus: ‘ Hadrianus, supposing
that he should destroy the Christian faith by offering injury
to the place, in the place of the passion dedicated the image
of Jupiter, and profaned Beth-lehem with the temple of
Adonis :” as also like words of Jerome: yet, he confesses,
the contrary seems to be in Origen against Celsus: and that
more true. For Adrian had no quarrel with the Christians,
and Christianity,—but with the Jews, that cursedly rebelled
against him.
CHAP. 1511’
Betar. V3
Or this city there is a deep silence in the Holy Scriptures,
but a most clamorous noise in the Talmudic writings. It
is tvulgarly written ΓΖ, Betar, and rendered by Christians,
Bitter, or Bither: but 1 find it written in the Jerusalem
Talmud pretty® often in the same page 7725, to be read,
as it seems W773, Beth-Tar; and casting away the first
n (Thau), which is very usual in the word ΓΞ, WA, Be-Tar,
‘the house of the inquirer. —“ Wherefore (say they) was
ἌΓ. ΓΖ Beth-Tar laid waste? Because it lighted candles
after the destruction of the Temple. And why did it light
candles? Because the counsellors ΔΛ ΣῚΞ at Jerusalem dwelt
in the midst of the city. And when they saw any going
up to Jerusalem, they said to him, ‘ We hear of you, that
you are ambitious to be made a captain t, or a counsellor?’
but he answered, ‘ There is no such thing in my mind.’—
‘ We hear of you, that you are about to sell your wealth.’
But he answered, ‘ Nor did this come into my mind.’ Then
would one of the company say, ‘ Whatsoever you ask of
this man, write it, and I will seal it.” He therefore wrote,
and his fellow sealed it: and they sent this feigned instru-
ment to their friends, saying, ‘If N. endeavours to come
τ Leusden’s edition, vol. 11. p.209. 69. 1.
5 Hieros. Taanith, [0]. 68. 4. et τ English folio edition, vol.ii. p.49.
108 Chorographical century.
again to the possession of his wealth, suffer him not to do
it, for he hath sold it among us.’”
The principal cause of the destruction of Beth-Tera was
Ben-Cozba, and his rebellion against the Romans. The
Babylonian writers assign another cause.
AMA DAN PHOIT NWN " “ For the foot of a chariot, was
Bathara laid waste. It was a custom, that when an infant
male was born, they planted a cedar; when an infant female,
a pine; and, when the children contracted marriage, out of
those trees they made the bride-chamber. On a certain day
the daughter of the emperor passed by, and the foot of her
chariot broke. They cut down such a cedar, and brought it
to her. {The Jews] rose up against them, and beat them.
It was told the emperor that the Jews rebelled. Being
angry, he marched against them, and destroyed the whole
horn of Israel,” &e.
“‘ Hadrian* besieged Bether three years and a half.—
Andy when they took it, they slew the men, the women, and
the children, so that their blood flowed into the great sea.
You will say, perhaps, that it was near the sea; but it was
a mile distant. The tradition is, that R. Eliezer the Great
saith, That there were two rivers in the valley of Jadaim, of
which one flowed this way,—the other, that. And the Rab-
bins computed that the third part of them was blood, and
two parts water. It was delivered also, that the heathen
gathered the vintages, for the space of seven years, without
dunging the land, because the vineyards were made fruitful
enough by the blood of the Israelites.”
The Jerusalem writers do hyperbolize enough concerning
the distance of this city from the sea. “ For if you say (say
they) that it was near the sea, was it not distant forty miles?
They say, that three hundred skulls of young children were
found upon one stone: and that there were three chests of
torn phylacteries, each chest containing nine bushels: but
there are others that say, nine chests, each containing three
bushels.”
Josephus mentions? Βήταριν καὶ KapaproBarv, δύο κώμας,
« Bab. Gittin, fol. 57. 1. z Jos. de Bell. lib. iv. cap. 26.
x Hieros. in the place above. [ Hudson, p. 1193. 1 14.] [iv. 8. 1.]
Y Gittin, in the place above.
Ephrain. 109
Tas μεσαιτάτας τῆς ᾿Ιδουμαίας ; “ Betaris, and Cephartobas,
two midland towns of Idumea :”—where by Idumea he means
the southern part of Judea, especially that that was moun-
tainous: as appears by the context. He calls Idumea, pro-
perly so called, Μεγάλην ᾿Ιδουμαίαν, ‘‘ Idumea the Great.”
CHAE.) EIil.
omy, Hphraim.
We mean not here the land of Ephraim, but a certain
town in the confines of that land: of which you read 2 Chron.
xii. 192; and of which the Talmudic writers speak>: « What
is the best flour,” to be offered in the Temple? « Michmas
and Mezonechah obtain the first place for fine flour; >".
Mypaa Ow Hy on> Ephraim in the valley obtains the next
place to them.” These words are not read the same way
by all.
Those of the Mishnaioth, in the eighth chapter, read, as we
have writ it: the Tosaphtah also reads ΟΣ Michmas : but
the Talmud Man D259: the Aruch also hath DD, Mich-
mas¢®: but for MIMD Mezonechah, it hath M33 Zanoah.
The same also read Oy; with the letter y (Ain): the Tal-
mud ΒΨ Lphoraim: the Gloss saith, ONY “ Lpho-
raim is a city, of which it is thus written in the books of the
Chronicles, ‘ And Abijah took O7py Ephraim.”
The Gemarists read it after the same manner, D™ py
Ephraim, this story being added4; ΝΣ NITY TS MD
sw “ Jannes and Mambres said to Moses, Do you bring
straw into Ephraim?” Which the Aruch reciting, adds these
words ; “ There was a city in the land of Israel, very fruit-
ful in bread-corn, called Ephraim: when Moses therefore
came with his miracles,
Jannes and Mambres, who were
the chief of Pharaoh’s magicians, said unto him, This is our
business, and we can do thus with our enchantments; you
therefore are like one bringing straw into Ephraim, which is
the city of bread-corn, and out of which is provision for many
places: therefore, how doth any carry in straw thither?” ὅσο.
Josephus*, speaking of Vespasian, hath these words;
a [pnpy, Cthiv; popy, Kri.} Aruch. in on)
Ὁ Menacoth, cap. ix. hal. 1. © English folio edition, vol.ii. p.59.
¢ Aruch m 0039 f Joseph. de Bell. lib. iv. c. 33.
a Bab. Menacoth, fol. 55.1. et [Hudson, p. 1200, 1. 22.] [iv. 9. 9.]
110 Chorographical century.
᾿Αναβὰς εἰς τὴν ὀρεινὴν, αἱρεῖ δύο τοπαρχίας, τήν τε Γοφνιτι-
κὴν καὶ τὴν ᾿Ακραβατηνὴν καλουμένην" μεθ᾽ ἃς Βηθηλᾶ τε καὶ
᾿Εφραὶμ πολιχνία: “ After he went into the hill country, he
took two Toparchies,—namely, Gophnitica and Acrabatena :
and, together with them, Beth-el and Ephraim, two small
cities.’ Into this Ephraim, we suppose it was that Christ
retired, in that story, John xi. 54.
Let us also add these things from the places alleged above.
R. Josi saith’, “ They brought also of the wheat OVNI.
of Barchaim, and OWS ἼΞ2 of Caphar Achum»; which were
near Jerusalem.”
“ Fori oil, Tekoa deserves the first praise. Aba Saul
saith, 199 Ragadb, beyond Jordan, obtains the next to 1. R.
Eliezer Ben Jacob saith, Gush Chalab, in Galilee, obtains the
third place.”
pois ΤΡ Κ᾿ (otherwise written pom Onnp.
in the Aruch it is OM) Karchiim and Atolin “ produce
the best wine: Beth Rimmah and Beth Laban, in the hilly
country,—and Caphar Sigana, in the valley, next to them.”
Let us also add these words elsewhere!: “ He eateth all
manner of victuals, and eateth not flesh: ΓΙ Δ ΓΝ
ΓΟ», the clusters of figs of Keila are brought in. He
drinks all manner of drink, but he drinks not wine: honey
and milk are brought in.” And elsewhere™: “ He eateth the
clusters of Keila δ» 5-25), and drinks honey and
milk, and enters into the Temple.”
CHAP. ΠΝ
wt Tsok: and WAIN MI, Beth Chadudo.
Wuen® they sent forth the goat Azazel (isa), on the
day of expiation,—before that, they set up ten tents, a mile
distant one from another: where some betook themselves
before that day, that they might be ready to accompany him,
who brought forth the goat. Those of the better rank went
out of Jerusalem with him, and accompanied him to the first
tent. ‘There others received him, and conducted him to the
& Tosapht. in Menacoth, c. 9. k Tbid.
h Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 210. 1 Bab. Sanhedrim, fol. 70. 2.
i Ibid. et Menach. in the place m Idem, Joma, fol. 76. 1.
above, hal. 3. n Bab. Joma, fol. 66. 2.
Tsok and Beth Chadudo. 111
second ; others to the third, and so to the tenth. From the
tenth to the rock ΝΣ Tsok, whence the goat was cast down,
were two miles. They, therefore, who received him there,
went not farther than a mile with him, that they might not
exceed a sabbath day’s journey: but, standing there, they
observed what was done by him. “He snapped the scarlet
thread into two parts, of which he bound one to the horns of
the goat, and the other to the rock: and thrust the goat
down ; which, hardly coming to the middle of the precipice,
was dashed and broke into pieces. The rock Tsok therefore
was twelve miles distant from Jerusalem, according to later
computation. But there are some, who assign nine-tenths
only, and ten miles.—See the Gemarists.
pis sok, among the Talmudists, is any more craggy and
lofty rock. Hence is that, abe ΤΡῚΣ wand aby 2
‘ she went up to the top of the rocks and fell.” Where the
Gloss writes, JIE “ Tsokin are high and craggy mountains.”
The first entrance into the desert was three miles from
Jerusalem, and that place was called 779 Mn ‘ Beth Cha-
dudo.’ The Misna of BabylonP writes thus of it; ‘“ They
say to the high-priest, The goat is now come into the wilder-
ness.” But whence knew they, that he was now come into
the wilderness? They set up high stones; and, standing on
them, they shook handkerchiefs; and hence they knew that
the goat was now got into the wilderness. R. Judah saith,
‘ Was not this a great sign to them? M2 ἢ ΡΟ
brn ‘29709N From Jerusalem to Beth Chadudo were three
miles. They went forward the space of a mile, and went back
the space of a mile, and they tarried the space of a mile: and
so they knew that the goat was now come to the wilderness.”
The Jerusalem Misna thus: “ R. Judah saith, Was not
this a great sign to them? ΠΡ ph eb al bbw youn ne
From Jerusalem to Beth-horon were three miles. They
went forward the space of a mile,” &e.
_ From these things compared, it is no improbable conjec-
ture, that the goat was sent out towards Beth-horon, which
both was twelve miles distant from Jerusalem, and had rough
and very craggy rocks near it: and that the sense of the
° Bab. Bava Mezia, fol. 36. 9. et 93. 2. P Joma, fol. 26. 8.
112 Chorographical century.
Gemarists was this,—In the way to Beth-horon, were three
miles to the first verge of the wilderness,—and the name of
the place was Beth Chadudo.
CHAP. LV.1
Divers matters.
I. Beru-cerrm, Neh. iii.14. “The® stones, as well of the
altar, as of the ascent to the altar, were Ὁ ΓΞ ΤΡ:
from the valley of Beth-cerem, which they digged out beneath
the barren land. And thence they are wont to bring whole
stones, upon which the working iron came not.”
The fathers of the traditions, treating concerning the blood
of women’s terms, reckon up five colours of it ; among which
that OAD“ ΡΞ ΠΝ 25, “ whichs is like the
water of the earth, out of the valley of Beth-cerem.”—W here
the Gloss writes thus, “ Beth-cerem is the name of a place:
whence a man fetches turf, and puts it into a pot, and the
water swims upon it: that is, he puts water to it, until the
water swims above the turf.”
The Gemaristst, examining this clause, hath these words :
“ R. Meir saith, He fetched the turf out of the valley of
Beth-cerem. R. Akibah saith, Out of the valley ΓΒ of
Jotapata. R. Jose saith, Out of the valley 923D ef Sicni.
R. Simeon saith, Also out of the valley of Genesara.”
1Π| τῇ attad ee Pynw We, Let the author of Aruch* ren-
der it for me: “The mount of Simeon brought forth three
hundred bags of broken bread for the poor every sabbath
evening.” But instead of ‘the mount of Simeon brought
forth, —whence it might be taken for the lot of the land of
Simeon,—he renders it, ‘* Rabbi Simeon brought forth,” ἕο.
“ But why was it laid waste? Some say, For fornication :
—others say, Because they played at bowls.” Κώμη Σιμω-
vias, the town Simonias is mentioned by Josephus in his life,
ἐν μεθορίοις Γαλιλαίας, “ in the confines of Galilee.”
111. “ΤΟΥ tribes had nine hundred cities.” The Gloss
4 English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 51- u Hieros. Taanith, fol. 69. 1.
τ Middoth, cap. iil. hal. 4. x Leusden’s edition, vol. il. p. 211.
s Niddah, cap. 11. hal. ult. y Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 111. 2.
t
Bab. Niddah, fol. 20. 1.
Divers matters. 113
is: “ There were nine hundred cities in the tribe of Judah,
and in the tribe of Simeon: therefore, nine became the
priests’ and Levites’.” See Josh. xxi. 16, and weigh the pro-
ortion.
IV. “ Nittaiz the Tekoite brought a cake out of Bitur”
(in the Jerusalem Talmud it is WW); “ but they received
it not. The Alexandrians brought their cakes from Alexan-
dria; but they received them not. DOW IAY WI WIN The
inhabitants of mount Zeboim brought their first-fruits before
Pentecost ; but they received them not,” &c. The Gloss is,
ἽΓΞ “ Bitar was without the land.” Therefore, this was
not that Bitar, whose destruction we have mentioned before.
Dwiasy WwW “ Mount Zeboim,” wheresoever it was, was
certainly within the land: for otherwise the first-fruits were
not to be reccived from thence. Now they refused them,
not because they were unlawful in themselves, but because
they were brought in an unlawful time: for “ they offered
not the first-fruits before Pentecost,” saith the tradition ;
where also this same story is repeated.
Mention is made of S™Y3e ania Migdal Zabaaia (a word
of the same etymology), in that notable story: “ Three? cities
were laid waste ; 2 Chabul for discord : pmw Shichin for
magical arts: NYA bo and Migdal Zabaaia” (or the
town of dyers) ‘“ for fornication.” .
V. Socoh, Josh. xv. 35. Thence was Antigonus, some time
president of the Sanhedrim. 31D WN DIPWIN Antigo-
nus © of Soco received the Cabala of Simeon the Just.”
VI. Γ 2, and Dp “Be Teri and Kubi.” The Gema-
rists, speaking of David’s battle with Ishbi-benob, 2 Sam.
xxi, make mention of these things: “ When 4 they were come
to Kubi (say they), they said, ‘ Let us arise up against him :’
—when they were come to Be Teri, they said, ‘ Do they kill
the lion between the two she-whelps?’” Where the Gloss
writes thus: “ David pursued them flying, and he approached
near to the land of the Philistines: and when he came to
Kubi, which was between the land of Israel and the Philis-
2 Challah, cap. 4. hal. το. © Avoth, cap. 1. hal. 3. Juchas.
@ Biccurim, cap. 1. hal. 3. fol. 15.
> Hieros. Taanith, in the place a Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 95. 1.
before.
LIGHTFOOT, VOL. I. I
114 Chorographical century.
tines, they said, ὅσο. N° Be Teri is also the name of a
place.”
VII. S351, Gophna.—Concerning the situation of this
place it is doubted whether it is to be assigned to Judah or
to the land of Samaria. These things certainly seem plainly
to lay it to Judea. Josephus saith these words concerning
Titus marching with his army to Jerusalem: ᾿Εμβάλλει " διὰ
τῆς Σαμαρείτιδος εἰς Γοφνά"...... ἔνθα μίαν ἑσπέραν αὐλισάμενος,
ὑπὸ τὴν ἕω πρόεισι, &e. ‘ He passeth swiftly through the
country of Samaria unto Gophna:...... where tarrying one
day, in the morning he marches forward ; and, after some
days, pitches his station along the valley of thorns unto a
certain town called Gabath-Saul.’’
Thef Jerusalem Talmudists § write thus: ‘ Fourscore pair
of brethren, priests, married fourscore pair of sisters, priest-
esses, in Gophna, in one night.” You will scarce find so
many priests in the country of Samaria.
PMN VA NWT NMwWID “« The} synagogue of the men of
Gophna was in Zippor :*—whom you will scarcely believe to
be Samaritans.
Of the eleven Toparchies, the second after Jerusalem was
Toparchia Gophnitica, in Pliny’ Zophanitica, the Toparchy
of Gophna.
The word $35) Gophna is derived from the vineyards.
VIIL. yran Mypa “ The valley of Rimmon.”—“ Seven !
elders came together to intercalate the year in the valley of
Rimmon :—namely, R. Meir, R. Juda, R. Jose, R. Simeon,
R. Nehemiah, Ν᾿. Lazar Ben Jacob, and R. Jochanan Sande-
lar.” And a little after; “ There was a marble rock there :
into which every one fastened a nail; therefore it is called
to this day, “The Rock of Nails.”
IX. “ They™ do not bring the sheaf [of jirst-fruits| but
from some place near Jerusalem. But if some place near
Jerusalem shall not produce those first-fruits, then they fetch
it farther off. There was a time when a sheaf was brought
€ Joseph. de Bell. lib. νυ. or 6. (i. 3. 51
(Hudson, p. 1215. 1. 21.] [v. 2 τ] k Pine lib. v. cap. 14.
f English, folio edit, vol. il. ps 2. 1 Hieros. Chagig. fol. 78. 4.
& Hieros. Taanith, fol. 69.1. m Gloss. in Bab. Sanhedr. fol.
h Id. Nazir. fol. 56. 1 Hines
i Joseph. de Bell. lib. iii. cap. 4
Samaria. Sychem. 115
out of the gardens of PHY Zeriphin, and the two loaves out
of the valley of \31D PY An-Socar.”
X. ‘“ They sometime asked R. Joshua, 1 hoes asl,
‘ What concerning the sons of the envious woman? (as 1 Sam.
1.6.) He answered, ‘ Ye put my head between two high
mountains,—namely, the school of Shammai and of Hillel,
that they may dash out my brains: but 1 testify concerning
the family Dyas Mad Ὁ} Mma of Beth Anubai, of
Beth Zebwim; of the family ‘DIP Ma Ke. of Beth-Nekiphi,
of Beth-Koshesh, that they were the sons of the envious
woman; and yet their posterity stood great priests, and of-
fered at the altar.’”
CHAP., LVI."
Samaria. Sychem.
Ἢ Σαμαρεῖτις χώρα, μέση μὲν τῆς ᾿Ιουδαίας ἐστὶ καὶ τῆς
Γαλιλαίας" ἀρχομένη γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν τῷ Μεγάλῳ πεδίῳ κειμένης
Γιναίας ὄνομα κώμης, ἐπιλήγει τῆς ᾿ ᾿Ακραβατηνῶν τοπαρχίας"
φύσιν δὲ τῆς ᾿Ιουδαίας Kar’ οὐδὲν διάφορος, &e. “The country
of Samaria lies in the middle, between Judea and Galilee.
For it begins at a town called Ginea, lying in the Great plain,
and ends at the Toparchy of the Acrabateni: the nature of
it nothing differing from Judea,” &c.
[*nanpy AcrabataP was distant from Jerusalem, son
max OW the space of a day's journey northwards.
Samaria, under the first Temple, was the name of a city,—
under the second, of a country. Its metropolis at that time
was Sychem; ΓΜ ΒΒ. Powa or “ Aq place destined
to revenges :” and which the Jews, as it seems, reproached
under the name of Sychar, John iy. 5, from the words of
the prophet, DIDS MDW “WT “ Woe to the drunken
Ephraimites,” Isa. xxviii. 1. The mountains of Gerizim and
Kbal touched on it.
The city Samaria was at last called Sebaste; and Sychem,
Neapolis. R. Benjamin thus writes of them: “ Sebaste™
Lnwaw | is Samaria; where still the palace of Ahab king of
Israel is known. Now that city was in a mountain, and well
n Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 212. 4 Tanchum, [0]. 17. 2.
© Joseph. de Bell. lib. 111. cap. 4. r Benjam. in Itiner. mihi p. 60.
{ Hudson, p.1121. 1.14.] (iii. 3. 4.) [p. 38.]
P Maasar Sheni, cap. 5. hal. 2.
12
116 Chorographical century.
fortified ; and in it were springs, and well-watered land, and
gardens, and paradises, and vineyards, and olive-yards. And
two parse thence (eight miles) is Neapolis, which is also Sy-
chem in mount Ephraim. And it is seated in a valley be-
tween the mountains Gerizim and Ebal: and in it are about
a hundred Cutheans observing the law of Moses only, and
they are called Samaritans: and they have priests of the seed
of Aaron.” And a little after, “They sacrifice in the Temple
in mount Gerizim, on the day of the Passover, and the feast-
days, upon the altar, which they built upon mount Gerizim,
of those stones which the children of Israel set up when
they passed over Jordan,” &e. And afterward, “ In mount
Gerizim are fountains and paradises: but mount Ebal is dry,
like the stones and rocks: and between them, in the valley,
is the city Sychem.”
Josephus speaking of Vespasian; ὝὙπέστρεφεν" εἰς ᾽Αμ-
μαοῦντα, ὅθεν διὰ τῆς Σαμαρείτιδος καὶ παρὰ τὴν Νεάπολιν κα-
λουμένην, Μαβαρθὰ δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων, &e. “ He turned
away to Ammaus, thence through the country of Samaria,
and by Neapolis so called, but Mabartha by the inhabitants,”
&e. SMIIYD Maabartha.
“R. Ismaelt Ben R. Josit, oda sto Sy went to
Neapolis. The Cutheans came to him: to whom he said, ‘ I
see that ye do not worship to that mountain, but to the
idols which are under it: for it is written; ‘and Jacob hid
the idols under the grove, which was near Shechem. ”
You may not improperly divide the times of Samaria under
the second Temple into heathenism,—namely, before the
building of the Temple at Gerizim,—and after that into
Samaritanism, as it was distinguished from Judaism, and as
it was an apostasy from it: although both religions indeed
departed not a hair’s breadth from deceitful superstition.
The author of Juchasin* does not speak amiss here :
“Then” (under Simeon the Just) “ Israel went into parties.
Part followed Simeon the Just, and Antigonus his scholar,
and their school; as they had learned from Ezra and the pro-
phets: part, Sanballat, and his son-in-law : and they offered
5. Joseph. de Bell. lib. iv. cap. 26. u Hieros. Avodah Zar. fol. 44. 4.
(Huds. p.1193. 1. 18.] [iv. 8. 1.] x Juchas. fol. 14. 2.
t English folio edit., vol. 11. p. 523.
Samaria. Sychem. 117
sacrifices without the Temple of God, and instituted rites out
of their own heart. In that Temple, Manasseh, the son-in-
law of Sanballat, the son of Joshua, the son of Jozedek the
high-priest, performed the priest’s office. And at that time
Zadok and Baithus, the scholars of Antigonus, did flourish ;
and hence was the beginning of the schism ; — namely,
when, in the days of Antigonus, many went back to mount
Gerizim.”
Thaty Temple flourished about two hundred years, and2
it perished by the sword and fire of Hyreanus: but the Sa-
maritan superstition perished not, but lasted for many ages ;
as odious to the Jews as heathenism, John iv. 9. Yet they
confess that TMT OND YIN the * land of the Sa-
maritans was clean, and their fountains clean, and their
dwellings clean, and their paths clean.” But much dispute is
made about their victuals, in the place noted in the margin.
““R. Jacob Bar Acha in the name of R. Lazar saith, ‘ The
victuals of the Cutheans are lawful,’ which is to be understood
of that food with which their wine and vinegar is not mingled.
It is a tradition. They sometimes said, Why is the wine of
Ugdor [ΔΝ] forbidden? Because of [ets nearness to] Caphar
Pagash. Why the wine of Burgatha’? Because of Birath
Sorika. Why the wine of En Cushith? Because of Caphar
Salama. But they said afterward, If it be open, it is every
where forbidden ; if it be covered, it is lawful.”” And a story
concerning R. Simeon Ben Lazar follows; who came into a
certain city of the Samaritans, and a certain Samaritan scribe
eame to him; from whom when he asked something to drink,
and it was set before him, poy ΓΝ “ he doubted about
it,” &e. And other things to that purpose are read not
much after: ὙΠῸ boa son ΠΌΤΟΝ xd No wine
was found in all Samaria, on a certain eve of the sabbath,
but, in the end of the sabbath, there was abundance; for the
Syrians had brought it, and the Samaritans received it of
them,” &e.
They> took not the half-shekel of the Cutheans, nor the
pigeons of women after child-birth, &c. ‘ Rabbi® said, ‘A
y Juchas. fol. 14. 2. a Hieros. Avod. Zar., fol. 44. 4.
2 Joseph. Antig. lib. xii. cap. 17. Ὁ Shekalim, cap. 1. hal. 5.
[xili. 9. 1.] © Hieros. there, fol. 46. 2.
118 Chorographical century.
Samaritan is as a heathen.’ R. Simeon Ben Gamaliel saith,
A Cuthean is as an Israelite in all things. R. Lazar, The
tradition is concerning the heathen?, not concerning the
Cutheans, &e. But the tradition contradicts R. Lazar,” &e.
But that deserves to be observed, PWIYW yor b> om
yom aia Sy on om: Sw oy min Thee
Cuiheans, when they make their unleavened bread with the
Israelites, are to be believed concerning the putting away of
leaven: but when they do not make their unleavened bread
with the Israelites, are not to be believed concerning the
putting away of leaven. KR. Josah saith, This is to be under-
stood of them as to their houses; but as to their courts, they
may be suspected: for so they interpret, ‘ Leaven shall not
be found in your houses ;’ not, ‘in your courts.’—It is a tra-
dition. Rabban Simeon Ben Gamaliel saith, In whatsoever
precept the Cutheans converse, they are more accurate in it
than the Israelites. This is to be understood, saith R. Simeon,
PMMA PRPWd ὙΠῸ ANWR concerning the time
past,—namely, when they were scattered about in their towns ;
but now, when they have neither precept nor any remain-
ders of a precept, they are suspected, and they are cor-
rupted.” The word Pyaw brings that of R. Abhu to mind,
who said, ONDA WN) MAY δὴ “ Thirteen cities were
drowned among the Cutheans ;’ that is, mixed and con-
founded among them. It is something difficult what that
means, “* They were scattered in their towns,” whether it is
spoken of the Cutheans residing within their own towns,—or
of the Jews residing with them,—or of them residing with
the Jews. Whatsvever that is, it is clear certainly, both
hence and elsewhere, that the Samaritans sometime did dwell
together with the Jews, being here and there sprinkled among
them, and the Jews here and there among the Samaritans.
Certainly that is worthy of observing which Josephus relates
of Herod’s rebuilding Sebaste, heretofore called Samaria :
"Ev8 μέν ye τῇ Σαμαρείτιδι, πόλι" καλλίστῳ περιβόλῳ τειχισά-
μενος ἐπὶ σταδίους εἴκοσι, καὶ καταγαγὼν ἑξακισχιλίους, εἰς αὐτὴν
οἰκήτορας, &e. ‘In the land of Samaria (saith he) he com-
4 Leusden’s edition, vol. il. p. 213. & Joseph. de Bell. lib. 1. ial
© Hieros. Pesachin, fol. 27. 2. son, p. 1007. 1. 14.] [i. 21. 2.
f Ibid. Kiddushin, fol. 65. 3.
Caesarea. Strato’s Tower. 119
passed a city with a very fair wall twenty furlongs, and
brought six thousand inhabitants into it»: (do you think
all these were Samaritans ?) “.and on these he bestowed a
very fertile land; and, in the middle of this work, he set up
a very great temple to Czesar, and made a grove about it of
three half furlongs, and called the city Sebaste.”
“The Samaritans (saith R. Benjamin') have not the letters
τ (He), or y (Ain), or ΤΠ (Cheth). 7 (He) is in the name of
Abraham, WW ὩΤΤΣ PRI And they have not honour, ΤΊ,
Cheth, is in the name of Isaac, TOM on PRs And they have
not mercy. (Ain) is in the name of Jacob, om ps
my And they have not gentleness. But for these letters they
use δὲ (Aleph): and hence it is known that they are not of the
seed of Israel.” Compare these things with the Samaritan
interpreter of the Pentateuch, and judge.
CHAP. LVILI.
Cesarea. Πύργος Στράτωνος. Strato’s Tower.
‘fur Arabian interpreter thinks the first name of this city
was Hazor, Josh. xi.1. The Jews, Ekron, Zeph. ii.4. “ R.
Abhu saith',” (he was of Ceesarea,) \pyM PY “ Ekron
shall be rooted out ; this is Czesarea, the daughter of Edom,
which is situated among things profane. She was a goad,
sticking in Israel, in the days of the Grecians. But when
the kingdom of the Asmonean family prevailed, it overcame
her, &c. R. Josi Bar Chaninah saith, What is that that is
written, ‘And Ekron shall be as a Jebusite?” (Zech. ix. 7.)
These are the theatres and judgment-seats which are in
Edom, in which the chief men of Judah hereafter shall pub-
licly teach the law. R. Isaac said, Leshem is Panias, and
Ekron is Czesarea, the daughter of Edom.”
The Jews are scarce in earnest when they say Czesarea is
the same with Ekron: but partly, they play with the sound
of the words yy ‘Ekron,’ and ayn shall be rooted out ;’
partly, they propound to themselves to reproach her, while
they compare that city, for the most part heathen, with
Ekron, the city of Beelzebub.
h English folio edition, vas ii. p.54. _* In Itinerar. mihi, p. 65. [p. 39.]
k Bab. *Mevill. fol. 6. 1.
190 Chorographical century.
When the Asmoneans had snatched away this city out of
the hand of the Grecians, the name of it was changed into
VW) bay Mmpns “ The taking of the tower Shur,” as
the Gemarists tell us in the place alleged: or as the author
of Juchasin, ‘* The! taking of the tower WW 7zur :”—or as
the Jerusalem Talmudists (unless my conjecture deceives me),
τὺ 6 o™ “the tower Sid.” Whether out of these words
you can make out the name of πύργος Στράτωνος, “ the tower
of Strato,” it is your part to study; that certainly was the
denomination of this place before it was called Czesarea.
It was distant six hundred furlongs, or thereabout, from
Jerusalem (that is, seventy-five miles), as Josephus relates
in that story of an Essene Jew that prophesied. Who®,
when he saw Antigonus, the brother of Aristobulus, passing
by in the Temple, having been now sent for by his brother
(indeed, that he might be slain by treachery), “Ὁ strange!
(saith he) now it is good for me to die; because that which
I foretold proves a lie. For Antigonus lives, who ought this
day to die: and Strato’s tower is the place appointed for his
death: καὶ τοῦ μὲν xopiov σταδίους ἀπέχοντος ἑξακοσίους" which
is distant six hundred furlongs hence: and there remains yet
four hours of day. But the very time makes my prediction
false.” Having said these things, the old man remained per-
plexed in his thoughts; but by and by news was brought
that Antigonus was slain in a certain place underground®, ἐν
σκοτει"ῇ τινι παρόδῳ. “in a certain dark passage,” which also
was called Στράτωνος πύργος, “ Strato’s tower.”
Herod built the city to the honour and name of Cesar, and
made a very noble haven at vast expenses. T[loAwP πᾶσαν
ἀνέκτισε λευκῷ λίθῳ, καὶ λαμπροτάτοις ἐκόσμησε βασιλείοις, ἐν ἧ
μάλιστα τὸ φύσει μεγαλόνουν ἐπεδείξατο, &e. “He built all
the city with white stone, and adorned it with most splendid
houses: in which especially he shewed the natural greatness
of his mind. For between Dori and Joppa, in the middle of
which this city lay, it happened that all the sea-coast was
destitute of havens, ὅσο. He made the greater haven of Pi-
1 Juchas. fol. 74. 1. ° Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 214.
m Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 36. 3. P Joseph. Antiq. lib. xv. cap. Io.
n Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 19. [Hudson, p. 694. 1. 31; and 1008. 1.
(Hudson, p. 589. 1. 42.] [xiii. 11.2] 4.7 [xv. 9.6. De Bell. i, 21. 5.]
De Bell. lib. 1. cap. 3. [i. 3, 5-]
Cesarea. Strato’s Tower. 191
reus, &c: and, at the mouth of it, stood three great statues,
&e. There were houses joining to the haven, and they also
were of white stone, &c. Over against the haven’s mouth
was the temple of Cesar, situate upon a rising ground, excel-
lent both for the beauty and greatness of it; and in it a large
statue of Czsar, ἄο. The rest of the works, which he did
there, was an amphitheatre, a theatre, and a market, all
worthy to be mentioned,” &c. See more in Josephus.
Czesarea was inhabited mixedly by Jews, heathens, and
Samaritans. Hence some places in it were profane and un-
clean to the Jews.
«Ἐς Nichomid Bar R. Chaija Bar Abba said’, My father
passed not under the arch of Caesarea; but R. Immi passed.
R. Ezekiah, R. Cohen, and R. Jacob Bar Acha, walked in
the palace of Ceesarea: when they came to the arch, R.
Cohen departed from them; but when they came to a clean
place, he again betook himself to them.” This story is
recited Beracoth, fol. 6.1; and there it is said that they
walked in the palace of Zippor.
“Ones brought a bill of divorce from the haven of Ca-
sarea. Concerning which when judgment was had before R.
Abhu, he said, There is no need to say, It was written, I
being present,—and I being present, it was sealed. JN),
PIO WI PAO? by mon For the haven of Czsarea is not
as Czsarea.”
Of the various strifes and uproars between the Czesarean
Greeks and Jews, in which the Jews always went by the
worst, Josephus hath very much. «Ἑτέρα ταραχὴ συνίσταται
περὶ Καισάρειαν, τῶν ἀναμεμιγμένων ᾿Ιουδαίων πρὸς τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ
Σύρους στασιασάντων' “ Another disturbance (saith het) was
raised at Ceesarea, of the Jews mingled there, rising up against
the Syrians that were in 10. The contest was about priority
and chiefdom, and it was transacted before Nero, cai" οἱ Ka-
σαρέων Ἕλληνες νικήσαντες, &c. “ And the Greeks of Czesarea
overcame,” &c. Where the reader will observe, that the
Syrians and Greeks are convertible terms.
4 English folio edition, vol. ii. p. t De Bello, lib. 11. cap. 23. [ Hud-
Bee son, p. 1076. 1. 25.] [ii. 13. 7.
τ Hieros. Nazir, fol. 56. 1. u Ibid. cap. 25. [il. 14. 4.]
5 Id. Gittin, fol. 43. 2.
122 Chorographical Century.
In* this city were the first seeds of a direful war, by reason
of workshops, built by a certain Greek of Caesarea, near a
synagogue of the Jews. ‘T'wentyy thousand men were slain
there afterward on one sabbath-day. You may read of more
seditions and bloodshed at that place, before the destruction
of the nation, in the author quoted.
Long after the destruction of it, here the schools and
doctors of the Jews flourished; so that PIO YT Ween “ the
Rabbins of Czesarea” are celebrated every where in the Tal-
mudical books2.
I. R. Hoshaia Rubba, or the Great.—“ R. Jochanan said,
We travelled to R. Hoshaia Rubba to Ceesarea, to learn the
law.”
If. R. Abhu.—“ R. Abhu4 appointed divers sounds of the
trumpet at Czesarea.”—* R. Abhu? sent his son from Czesarea
to Tiberias to the university,” &c.—‘ The Cutheans¢ of Ce-
sarea asked R. Abhu, saying, Your fathers were contented
with our things, why are not ye also? He answered, Your
fathers corrupted not their works, but you have corrupted
them.”
Ill. R. Achavah and R. Zeira.—* R. Mena? said, I travelled
to Ceesarea, and I heard R. Achavah and R. Zeira.”
IV. R. Zerikan.—< R. Menaé said, I heard R. Zerikan at
Ceesarea.”
V. ΟΡ WAN ἘΞ Ε: Prigorif of Caesarea.”
VI. Ullas of Caesarea. And,
VII. R. Ada? of Cwesarea, and R. Tachalipha, &e.
Mention is made of (PID T NFVTVWD NMwWE5) “the! syna-
gogue Mardatha, (or Maradtha,) of Ceesarea:” we do not
inquire of the reason of the name, for it is written elsewhere
NOTIN NMwWID “ Thek synagogue Madadta;”—in both places
with this story joined; “πὰ. Abhu sat teaching in the syna-
gogue Maradta of Ceesarea. The time came of lifting up
hands, and they asked him not of that matter. The time of
x Tbid. cap. 25. e Td. Pesachin, fol. 28. 1.
y Ibid. cap. 32. [ii. 18.1.] f Idem. ‘Trumoth, fol. 47. 4.
z Hieros. Trumoth, fol. 47. 1. & Id. Pesachin, fol. 30. 1.
a Juchas. in fol. 7. 1. h Id. Rosh Hashanah, fol. 59. 3.
b Td. ibid. i Hieros. Nazir, fol. 56. 1.
© Hieros. Avod. Zar. fol. 44. 4. k Id. Beracoth, fol. é. ie
ἃ Id. Challah, fol. 57. 1.
Antipatris. Caphar Salama. 123
eating came, and of that they asked him. To whom he re-
plied, Ye ask me concerning the time of eating, but not of
the lifting up of hands. Which when they heard, every one
withdrew himself, and fled.”
CHAP. LVIII.
Antipatris. pow 955, Caphar Salama.
We find this town marked out heretofore by a double
uame, if we believe some. 1. It is called Καφαρσαλαμᾶ by
some, of which mention is made by Josephus!, and the Book
of the Maccabees. 2. Χαφαρζαβᾶ by Josephus himself: Δεί-
σας πὶ δὲ ᾿Αλέξανδρος τὴν ἔφοδον αὐτοῦ [᾿Αντιόχου Διονύσου]
τάφρον ὀρύττει βαθεῖαν, ἀπὸ τῆς Χαφ β]αρ(αβᾶ καταρξάμενος, ἣ
νῦν ᾿Αντιπατρὶς καλεῖται, &e. ‘ But Alexander, fearing his”
[Antiochus Dionysius] “coming, digs a deep trench, begin-
ning at Capharzaba, which is now called Antipatris, unto the
sea of Joppa, a hundred and fifty furlongs.” Note, by the
way, from Joppa to Antipatris is a hundred and fifty furlongs,
that is, eighteen miles.
Wet will not contend about the name; of the situation of
it, as it stands almost in all maps, we doubt. We will give
the reason of our scruple by those things that follow; in the
mean time we will give some history of the place.
I. Herod built it in memory of his father Antipater. Kale
yap τῷ πατρὶ μνημεῖον κατέστησε, Kal πόλιν, ἣν ἐν τῷ καλλίστῳ
τῆς βασιλείας πεδίῳ κτίσας, ποταμοῖς τε καὶ δένδρεσι πλουσίαν,
ὠνόμασεν ᾿Αντιπατρίδα : “ For he raised (saith Josephus) a mo-
nument to his father, and a city, which he built in the best
plain of his kingdom, rich in springs and woods, and called it
Antipatris.”
I]. Hither was Paul brought when he was earried to
Cesarea, Acts xxill. 31; where, unless those words, ἤγαγον
διὰ τῆς νυκτὸς εἰς τὴν ᾿Αντιπατρίδα, be rendered by no unusual
interpretation, “they brought him by night towards Anti-
' Joseph. Antiq. lib. xii. cap.17. 56.—Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p.
[ xii. το. 4.] 1 Mace. vii. 31. Zhe.
m Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 23. © Joseph. de Bello, lib. 1. cap. 16.
[ Hudson, p. 598. 1. 43.] [xili.15.1.] [Hudson, p. 1oog. 1. 17.] [i. 21. 9.]
n English folro edition, vol. 11. p.
124 Chorographical century.
patris,’— you must place that city much nearer Jerusalem
than almost all the maps do.
III. This measuring once and again occurs among the
Gemarists, DIU WIN Wi M14 “ From Gebath to Antipa-
tris.’ —“ From Gebath to Antipatris (say theyP) were sixty
myriads of cities, the least of which was Beth-Shemesh.” We
do not assert the truth of the thing; we only take notice of
the phrase.
And again; ‘“ Hezekiah the king (say they4) fixed his
sword to the door of Beth-Midras, and said, Whosoever
studieth not the law shall be run through with that sword.
They make inquiry from Dan even to Beersheba, and found
not any one uninstructed (PINT Cy"): W127, from
Gebath to Antipatris, and found not boy or girl, man or
woman, who did not well know the traditions of cleanness and
uncleanness.” Where the Gloss is; “ Gebath and Antipatris
were places in the utmost borders.”—Think of the scene of
the story, and how such an encomium could reach as far as
Antipatris, almost in the middle of Samaria, as it is placed in
the maps. And what authority had Hezekiah to make inquiry
among the Samaritans ?
The Talmudists also say, that the meeting of Alexander
the Great, and of Simeon the Just, was at Antipatris. ‘“ The
Cutheans (say they’) prayed Alexander the Great, that he
would destroy the Temple [of Jerusalem]. Some came, and
discovered the thing to Simeon the Just. Therefore what
does he? He puts on the high-priest’s garments, and veils
himself with the high-priest’s veil: and he and the chief men
of Israel went forth, holding torches in their hands. Some
went this way and others that, all night, till the morning
brake forth. When the morning grew light, said (Alexander)
to his men, Who are those !—The Jews, said they, who have
rebelled against you. When they were come primp wind
to Antipatris, the sun arose, and they were met by these :
P Hieros. Taanith, fol. 69. 2. et de uno homine id efferunt, pro
Megill. fol. 70. 1. Idiota, Ignaro, Imperito, Vili, &c.
4 Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 94. 2. Buxtorf Lex. Chald. Talm. sub ν.
r [yisdoy. Populus terre,i.e. 2 col. 1625-6. |
Vulgus, plebs imperita. Judi etiam 5. Id. Joma, fol. 69. 1.
Galilee. 125
when Alexander saw Simeon the Just lighting down out of
his chariot he worshipped him,” We.
Do you think that the high-priest, clothed in his priestly
garments, and the Jews, went through all Samaria almost in
such solemn procession? Josephus, relating this story, only
the name of Jaddua changed, saith, this meeting was εἰς ἢ
τόπον τινὰ Lapa λεγόμενον. Τὸ δὲ ὄνομα τοῦτο μεταφερόμενον εἰς
τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν γλῶτταν σκοπὴν σημαίνει, &e. “at a certain
place called Sapha. But this name, being changed into the
Greek language, signifies, A watch-tower. For the buildings
of Jerusalem and the Temple might from thence be seen.” Of
which place he and we treat elsewhere under the name of
Σκοπὸς, Scopus, and DD Ww, Tzophim.
ΟΗΑΡ. ΠΙΧ.
Galilee, bry.
“ Tyere" is Galilee the upper, and Galilee the nether, and
the valley. From Caphar Hananiah, and upwards,—what-
soever land produceth not sycamines, is Galilee the upper:
but from Caphar Hananiah, and below, whatsoever produceth
sycamines, is Galilee the nether. There is also the coast of
Tiberias, and the valley.”
Δύοχ δ᾽ οὔσας tas Γαλιλαίας, τήν τε ἄνω, Kal τὴν κάτω Tpoca-
γορευομένην, ὅσο. “ Phoenice and Syria compass both Galilees,
both the upper and the nether, so called. Ptolemais and
Carmel bound the country westward.”
That which is said before of the sycamines, recalls to mind
the city Syeaminon, of which Pliny speaks: ‘* We must go
back (saith hey) to the coast, and to Pheenice. There
was the town Crocodilon: it is a river. ‘The remembrance
of cities. Dorum, Sycaminum, the promontory Carmel,” ὅσο.
Andz Josephus?: ἔπλευσε, καὶ καταχθεὶς εἰς τὴν λεγομένην
Συκάμινον, &e. He set sail, and, being brought to the city
called Syeaminum, there he landed his forces.”
t Antiq. lib. xi. cap.8. [Hudson, y Nat. Hist. lib. 5. cap. 10.
p- 503. 1. 20.] [xi. 8, 5.] z English folio edition, vol. ii.
ἃ Sheviith, cap. 9. hal. 2. Pasir
x Joseph. de Bell. lib. 111. cap. 4. a Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 20. [Huds.
(Hudson, p. 1120. 1.14.] [11]. 3.1.1 p. 592. 1. 10.] [xill. 12. 3.]
196 Chorographical century.
Maw Shikmonah the name of a place, among the Tal-
mudists, seemed to design that town. ee bes Pots bs
IVI 2°79. Where the Gloss saith, FIVA7W ‘ Shikmonah
is the name of a place.’
Since the whole land of Samaria lay between Judea and
Galilee, it is no wonder if there were some difference both
of manners and dialect between the inhabitants of those
countries. Concerning which, see the eighty-sixth and the
eighty-seventh chapters.
Διακόσιαις καὶ τέσσαρες κατὰ τὴν Γαλιλαίαν εἰσὶ πόλεις Kal
κώμαι. ‘There are two hundred and four cities and towns in
Galilee :’—which is to be understood of those that are more
eminent and fortified.
In4 nether Galilee, those, among others, were fortified by
Josephus,—Jotopata, Beersabee, Salamis, Pareecho, Japha,
Sigo, Mount Itaburion, Tarichee®, Tiberias.
In upper Galilee, the rock Acharabon, Seph, Jamnith,
Mero. More will occur to us as we go on.
CHAP LX.
Seythopohs. WNW MA, Beth-shean, the beginning of Galilee.
Tue bounds of Galilee were, ᾿Απὸΐ μεσημβρίας, Σαμαρίς re
καὶ Σκυθόπολις, μέχρι τῶν ᾿Ιορδάνον ῥείθρων. ‘on the south,
Samaris and Scythopolis, unto the flood of Jordan.”
Seythopolis is the same with Beth-shean, of which is no
seldom mention in the Holy Scriptures, Josh. xvii. 11, Judg. i.
27, 1 Sam. xxxi.10. Βεθσάνη καλουμένη πρὸς Ἑλλήνων Σκυθό-
πολις : ‘* Bethsane (saith Josephus®), called by the Greeks
Seythopolis.” It was distant but a little way from Jordan,
seated in the entrance to a great valley: for so the same
author writes, AvaBdvres δὲ τὸν ᾿Ιορδάνην, ἧκον εἰς τὸ Μέγα
πεδίον, οὗ κεῖται κατὰ πρόσωπον πόλις Βεθσάνη, &e. “ Having
passed Jordan, they came to a great plain, where lies before
you the city Bethsane,” &e.
Ὁ Demai, cap. 1. hal. f Jos. de Bell. lib. iii. cap. 4
© Joseph. in his life, with me, [Huds. p. 1120.] [iii. 3. r.]
p- 642. [c. 45.] ΕΒ Id. Antiq. 110. xii. cap. 12.
d slideni de Bell. lib. ii. cap. 42. [Huds. p. 543. 1. 29.] [xii. 8.1.1 See
[ii. 20. 6.] also lib. xiil. cap. 13. [ xiii. 6. 1.]
€ Leusden’s edition, vol. il. p. 216.
Caphar Hananiah. 127
“ Before-time it was called Nysa (Pliny being our author),
by Father Bacchus, his nurse being there buried.”
It was a part of the land of Israel, when it was first sub-
dued ; but scarcely, when it was subdued the second time ;
as R. Solomon! speaks not amiss. Hence it passed into a
Greek denomination, and was inhabited by Gentiles. Among
whom nevertheless not a few Jews dwelt, who also had some-
time their schools there, and their doctors. nosw NWI.
sans The men of Beth-shean asked R. Immi, What if a
man take away stones from one synagogue, and build another
synagogue with them? He answered, It is not lawfulk.” And
mention is made! jNumaa Mwy of something done in
Beth-shean by the doctors about the wine of the heathen.”
“ Resh Lachish™ saith, If Paradise be in the land of Israel,
ΓΒ. WM. Beth-shean is the gate of it: if it be in
Arabia, Beth-geram is the gate of it: if among the rivers,
Damascus.” The Gloss is, “The fruits of Beth-shean were
the sweetest of all in the land of Israel.” DIDI jw sb
&e. “ Fine" linen garments were made in Beth-shean.”
CHAP: ΤΣ ΤῸ
Caphar Hananiah, PIN NES. The Middle of Galilee.
Ir seems also to be called ‘ Caphar Hanan: hence 239 ω
ἡ ADIT “ RK. Jacob of Caphar Hanan».”
Mention is made of this place once and again: “ If4 any
one have five sheep in Caphar Hananiah, and five more in
Caphar Uthni [amy p52], they are not joined together,”
that is, they are not numbered to be tithed, “ until he hath
one in Zippor.”—The Gloss is, “ From Caphar Uthni to
Caphar Hananiah, are two-and-thirty miles, and Zippor is in
the middle.”’
“The™ men of the family of Mamal, and the men of the
family of Gorion, in the years of dearth. distributed to the
poor figs and raisins in Arumah. And the poor of Caphar
h Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 18. n Hieros. Kiddush., fol. 62. 3.
i R. Sol. in Demai, cap. i. ο English folio edit. vol. 11. p. 58.
k Hieros. Megill. fol. 73. 4. P Hieros. Avod. Zar. fol. 43. 2.
1 Avod. Zarah, cap. 4. hal. 2. a Bab. Berac. fol. 55 1.
m Bab. Erubhin, fol. 19. 1. τ Bab. Erubh. fol. 51. 1.
198 Chorographical century.
Shichin, and the poor of Caphar Hananiah, came: by pow)
DIN and when it now grew dark, they contained them-
selves within the bounds [of the sabbath], and in the morning
went forward.” The Gloss, is, “* Arumah is the name of a
place. The poor of Caphar Shichin were neighbours to those
of Arumah, being distant only four thousand (cudits).” Which
distance exceeding a sabbath-day’s journey, the poor, before
the coming-in of the sabbath, contained themselves within
the bounds of Arumah ; that, the morning following, they
might betake themselves to the houses of those that dis-
tributed their charity, and not break the sabbath. He that
turns over the Talmudical writers will meet with very fre-
quent mention of this city.
You observe before in Pliny, that Sycaminum was seated
between Dor and Carmel ; and in the Talmudic writers, that
the plenty of sycamines began at Caphar Hananiah.
CHAP Ext
The disposition of the tribes in Galilee.
Tue country of Samaria contained only two tribes, and
those of the brethren, Ephraim and Manasses: Galilee four,
Issachar, Zebulun, Nephthalim, and Asher, and a part also of
the Danites.
The maps agree indeed about the order in which these
tribes were seated, but about the proper place of their situa-
tion, Oh how great a disagreement is there among them!
The tribe of Issachar held the south country of Galilee : some
maps place it on the south of the sea of Gennesaret, not illy:
but it is ill done of them to stretch it unto the sea itself:
and others, worst of all, who set it on the west of that sea.
Of this land Josephus writes thus; καὶβ μετὰ τούτοις ᾿Ισάχαρις,
Κάρμηλόν τε ὄρος, kal τὸν ποταμὸν τοῦ μήκους ποιησαμένη Tép-
μονα, τὸ δὲ ᾿Ιταβύριον ὄρος τοῦ πλάτους : “ And after these (the
Manassites) Issachar maketh mount Carmel and the river her
bounds in length, and mount Itaburion in breadth.”
The country of Zabulon touched upon that of Issachar on
the north. Some maps spread it out unto the sea of Genne-
saret; some place it a long way above that sea northwardly ;
5. Antiq. lib. v. cap. 1. [Hudson, p. 188. 1. 17-] [v. i. 22.]
Tribes in Galilee. 129
the former not well,—the latter exceedinglyt ill. Of it thus
writes the same Josephus, Ζαβουλωνίταια τὴν μέχρι Γεννησα-
piridos, καθήκουσαν δὲ περὶ Κάρμηλον καὶ θάλασσαν, ἔλαχον'
“The Zabulonites had for their portion the land unto Gen-
nesaret, extending unto Carmel and the sea.” Observing
that clause μέχρι Γεννησαρίτιδος, “ unto Gennesaret,” we
(persuaded also by the Talmudical writers, and led by reason)
do suppose the land of Zabulon to lie on the south shore
and coast of the sea of Gennesaret, and that whole sea to be
comprised within the land of Nephthali. With what argu-
ments, we are led we shew afterward, when we treat of that
sea. Which assertion, we know, is exposed, and lies open to
this objection :—
Object. Josephus saith, in the place but now quoted, that
τῆς Γαλιλαίας τὰ καθύπερθεν, ἕως τοῦ Λιβάνου ὄρους, καὶ τῶν
τοῦ Ιορδάνου πηγῶν, “ the upper parts of Galilee unto mount
Libanus, and* the springs of Jordan,” belonged to the por-
tion of Nephthali. But now if you stretch the portion of
Nephthali from the springs of Jordan to the utmost southern
coast of the sea of Gennesaret (which our opinion does),
alas, how much doth this exceed the proportion of the other
tribes! For from Seythopolis, the utmost south border of
Galilee, to the south coast of the sea of Gennesaret, was not
above fifteen miles: within which space the whole breadth of
the two tribes of Issachar and Zabulon is contained. But
from the south coast of Gennesaret to the springs of Jordan,
were about forty miles ; which to assign to the land of Neph-
thali alone, is neither proportionable nor congruous.
Ans. This objection indeed would have some weight in it,
if the land of Nephthali did extend itself eastwardly as much
as the land of Issachar and Zabulon. For these run out as
far as the Mediterranean sea; but that hath the land of
Asher, and the jurisdiction of Tyre and Sidon lying between
it and the sea. So that when the breadth of those countries
is measured from south to north, the breadth of this is mea-
sured from east to west. There is therefore no such great
inequality between these, when this is contained in the like
Ὁ Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 217. u Antiq. hb. v. cap.t. [ibid.]
x English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 59.
LIGHTFOOT, VOL. 1. K
190 Chorographical century.
straits of breadth with them, and they enjoy the like length
with this.
The confines of the land of Nephthali bounded the land
of Asher on one side, and those of Tyre and Sidon on the
other: and this land, in the same manner as the portion of
Nephthali, extends itself in length from south to north; and
(which somewhat agrees with our opinion, and answers the
objection mentioned before) Josephus allows it a greater
length than we do the land of Nephthali, or at least equal to
it. For, Τὴν δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ Καρμήλου κοιλάδα προσαγορευομένην,
διὰ τὸ καὶ τοιαύτην εἶναι, ᾿Ασήριται φέρονται πᾶσαν τὴν ἐπὶ
Σιδῶνος τετραμμένην: ‘The Asherites possess all that hollow
valley so called, because it is such that runs from Carmel to
Sidon.”
CHAP. LXIITI.
The west coast of Galilee-Carmel.
Turz people of Issachar had Τέρμονα τοῦ μήκους Κάρμηλον
καὶ ποταμόν “Carmel and the river for their bounds in
length:” the people of Zabulon, Κάρμηλον καὶ θάλασσαν,
“Carmel and the sea.”
Carmel was not so much one mountain as a mountainous
country, containing almost the whole breadth of the land of
Issachar, and a great part of that of Zabulon. It was, as it
seems, a certain famous peak among many other mountain
tops, known by the same name, lifted up and advanced above
the rest. The? promontory Carmel, in Pliny, and in the
mountain a town of the same name, heretofore called Heba-
tane (\MIpy]; where probably Vespasian sometime consulted
the» oracle of the god Carmel.
The sea washes upon the foot of the mountain. ‘“ R. Sa-
muel¢ Bar Chaiah Bar Judah said, in the name of R. Chani-
nah, Any one sitting upon mount Carmel when the orb of the
setting sun begins now to disappear, if he goes down and
washes himself in the great sea, and goes up and eats his
Truma [MINN], bay ona MIN it is to be presumed that
he washed in the day time.”
y Joseph. [Ibid.] z Tbid. b Tacit. Hist. lib. 11. 78.
a Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 19. ¢ Hieros. Berac. fol. 2. 1.
West coast of Galilec-Carmel. ~ 19]
Κάρμηλον καὶ ποταμόν" “Carmel and the river.” What
is that river? Kishon, say the maps: for some describe it not
far from Carmel, pouring out itself into the sea: and that not
without a reason, fetched from i Kings xviii. 40. But you
must suppose Kishon to flow south of Carmel,—not, as some
would have it, on the north.
“ The lake Cendevia flows at the foot of Carmel; and out
of it the river Pagida or Bel, mingling glassy sands with its
small shore ;” so Pliny4,—who hath moreover these words,
‘“‘ Near is the colony of Claudius Czesar, Ptolemais, heretofore
Ace, the town Hedippa, the white promontory, Tyrus, hereto-
fore an island, &c. Thence are the towns Ide [otherwise
Enhydra], and Sarepta, and Ornithon ; and Sidon, skilful in
making glass,” ὅσο.
These places you may call not so much the bounds of
Galilee as of Phoenicia: for in Ptolemais itself, or Acon, was
the separation and parting of the land of Israel from Phoeni-
cia. Hence Josephus, Avo® δ᾽ οὔσας τὰς Γαλιλαίας, χα.
“ Phoenice and Syria do compass the two Galilees, the upper
and the nether so called: and Ptolemais and Carmel set
bounds to the country on the west.’—What! do Ptolemais
and Carmel stint the wholef length of Galilee on the west ?
He had said elsewhere, which we also have produced else-
where, that the land of Nephthali was extended as far as
mount Libanus (on the north): alas, hows far behind Pto-
lemais! And the land Asher was extended so far also: but
“ Ptolemais was the sea-borders of Palestine” (to use Pliny’s
words), for from hence onward were the territories of Tyre
and Sidon; and Galilee was not now bounded any longer by
the sea, but by those territories.
We saw in the scheme produced by us in the second
chapter of this little work, wherein the compass of the land
under the second Temple is briefly described, how 1597 NW,
“ 'The walls of Aco” are there set for a bound; and that in
the sense which we speak of, which afterward also will ap-
pear more. ‘Those names, therefore, which follow in the
inentioned scheme, to wit, I. περ) δ» IL. ANS,
4 Plin. in the above place. f Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 218.
€ Joseph. de Bell. lib. ii. cap. 4. ΕΒ English folio edition, vol. ii.
[ Hudson, p. 1120.] [iii. 3. 1.] Ρ. 60.
κῷ
132 Chorographical century.
ΠΙ|. ΠΤ ma, TV. sy, and some others, seem to
denote the places which were the boundaries between Galilee
and the borders of Tyre and Sidon.
CHAP, LXV
Acon, Ἵ3Ψ. Ptolemais.
Πρόσεστι δ᾽ ἡ πόλις [αὕτη] τῆς Γαλιλαίας παράλιος, &e.
“ Ptolemais” (which is also called Acon) “is a city of Galilee
on the sea-coast, situate in a great champaign, but it is com-
passed with hills; on the east, sixty furlongs off, with the
hill-ecountry of Galilee; on the south with Carmel, distant a
hundred and twenty furlongs ; on the north, with a very high
mountain which is called Climax”’ (or the ladder), “ belonging
to the Tyrians, and is a hundred furlongs distant. Two
miles off of that city the river Beleus flows, a very small one,
near which is the sepulchre of Memnon; having about it the
space of a hundred cubits, but well worthy admiration. For
it is in the form of a round valley, affording glassy sand,
which when many ships coming thither have gathered, the
place is again replenished}.”
7s D395 med ἼΣΟΣ “From! Acon onwards to the
north” (is heathen land), and Acon itself is reckoned for the
north (that is, for heathen land).
“ Ink Acon the Jand of Israel is, and is πού. And there-
fore, “ R. Josi Ben Hananiah! kissed the arch of Acon, and
said, Hitherto is the land of Israel.”
“R. Simeon™ Ben Gamaliel said, I saw Simeon Ben Cahna
drinking wine in Acon, &c. But was it within the bounds
of the land or no?” See the author of Juchasin disputing
largely of this matter, in the place of the margin”.
There was the bath of Venus in Acon [TEN by yn]:
Where® R. Gamaliel washing, was asked by a certain heathen
(whose name in the Jerusalem Misna is mboibe {a OVA
in the Babylonian δος {2 Didone ‘Proculus, the son
of the philosopher’), ““ What have you to do with the bath
h Jos. de Bell. lib. ii. cap. 17. 1 Td. Sheviith, fol. 35. 3.
[ Hudson, p. 1068. 1. 12.] [ii. ro. 2.] m Td. Challah, fol. 60. 2.
i R. Nissin in Gittin, cap. 1. n Juchas. fol. 71. 1.
k Mieros. Gittin, fol. 43. 3. ο Avod. Zarah, cap. il. hal. 4.
Acon. Ptolemais. 133
᾿Αφροδίτης, of Venus,—Then it is written in your law, ‘ There
shall not cleave to thy hand any of the accursed thing?” He
answered, I must not answer you in the bath” (because you
must not speak of the law when you stand naked). ‘‘ When
he came out therefore he said, I went not into her bounds,
but she came into mine.” (The Gloss is, ‘The bath was
before she was.) ‘And we say not, Let us make a fair
bath for Venus,—but, Let us make a fair Venus for the
bath,” Ge.
A story, done at Acon before R. Judah, is related, not
unworthy to be mentioned. “ Rabbi® came to a certain
place, and saw the men of that place baking their dough in
uncleanness. When he inquired of them, Why they did so,
they answered, A certain scholar came hither, and taught us,
PYWID PR OWS 5 the waters DVI are not of those
waters (that bring pollution). ‘gond wt ora Ὁ NIT
He spake of the waters [> 1 (that is, of eggs); but they
thought that he spake of Dyza OD the waters of the
marshes.’ These things we have the more willingly pro-
duced, that the reader may see that the letter (Ain) was
no sound with these; examples like to which we bring
elsewhere. Now hear the Glosser; “ Rabbi saw this (saith
he) in Acon, in which is Israelitic land and heathen land :—
now he saw them standing within the limits of Israelitic
land, and baking their dough in uncleanness, and wondered,
until they told him, A certain scholar came hither,” &c.
1D 155, Caphar Acon, is very frequently mentioned by the
Talmudists.
“A cityP which produceth fifteen hundred footmen, as
133) ND Caphar Acon, if nine dead persons be carried out
thence in three days successively, behold! it is the plague:
but if in one day, or in four days, then it is not the plague.
And a city which produceth five hundred foot, as {Py ἼΞ9
Caphar Amiku,” &e.
Hence 4 are the names of some Acon Rabbins; as,
“ R. Tanchum’, the son of R. Chaia of Caphar Acon.”
© Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 5. 2. 4 English folio edit., vol.ii. p. 61.
P Id. Taanith, fol. 21. 1. ¥ bid. fol. 7. 2.
184 Chorographical century.
«R.Simeons Ben Judah, ἽΝ 3D WN, A man of Caphar
Acon.”
ἽΝ {OT SIN ‘, “BR. Abbat of Acon :” and others.
Weigh this story": “One* brought a bill of divorce to
R. Ismael; who said to him, Whence are you? He answered,
sy ΟΞ ~OD HDD From Caphar Samai, which is
in the confines of Acon.—Then it is needful, saith he, that
you say, It was written, I being present,—and sealed, I
being present. When he went out, R. Illai said unto him, Is
not Caphar Samai of the land of Israel, being nearer to
Zippor than Acon?” And a little after: “The cities which
are in the borders of Zippor near to Acon, and which are in
the borders of Acon near to Zippor, what will you do con-
cerning them’ As Acon is, so is Zippor.”
CHAP. LXV.
Ecdippa. Achzib. Josh. xix. 29. Judg.i.31. Κλίμαξ
Τυρίων: Climax of the Tyrians.
“ TRAVELLINGY from Acon to Achzib, on the right hand
of the way, eastwardly, it is clean, from the notion of heathen
land, and is bound to tithes, and to the law of the seventh
year, until you are certified that it is free. On the left hand
of the way, westward, it is unclean, under the notion of
Gentile land; and it is free from tithes, and from the law
concerning the seventh year, till you are certified it is bound
to those things, even until you come to Achzib.” The Gemara
hath these words: but the text, on which is this commentary,
is this: ‘ The? three countries” (namely, Judea, Galilee, and
Perea) “ are bound to the law of the seventh year: whatso-
ever they possessed, who came up out of Babylon, from the
land of Israel unto 35 Chezib (the Jerusalem Misna reads
3532 Ghezib), is not fed nor tilled: but whatsoever they
possessed, who came up out of Egypt, from Chezib to the
river, and to Amanah, is fed, but not tilled: from the river
and from Amanah, inwards, is fed and tilled.”
5. Juchas. fol. 69. 1. x Hieros. Gittin, fol. 43. 3.
t Ibid. fol. 71. 1. y Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 36. 2.
ἃ Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. Ὁ. 210. 2 Sheviith, cap. 6. hal. 1.
Ecdippa. Achzib. Tyrians. 135
Of Amanah we shall speak by and by. “ The river (saith
R. Solomon upon the place) is the river of Egypt.”—‘ And
Chezib (saith Rambam®) is the name of a place, which
divided between the land of Israel, which they possessed that
came up out of Babylon, and that land which they possessed
that came up out of Egypt. Now that land, which they
possessed that came up out of Egypt, as to the Demai” (or
doubt of tithing), “is, as it were, without the land.” Hence
is that in the text, on which he makes this comment, 353%}
SOT ἸΏ WOH tombs “ From Chezib, and beyond, is free
from the Demai.”
The word Chezib, and “οὐαὶ, at last passed into Hedippa,
according to the manner of the Syrian dialect ; to which it is
common to change τ (Zain) of the Hebrews into Ἵ (Daleth.)
Κλίμαξ Τυρίων, “ Climax (or the ladder) of the Tyrians,” in
the Talmudists is VWW7F mabnp, ‘The ladder of Tyre.’ sv
Spt ΟΡ yw “ Before? they came to Climax of
the Tyrians, they forgot all.”—The discourse is, in the place
cited, about some Romans sent to Rabban Gamaliel, to
inquire of the Jewish law.
Of him also is this story, and of the same place: “ When¢
he went sometime out of Chezib, one came to him, to ask
him of a certain vow of his. He said to him, who went with
him, Tell him, that we have drunk an Italian quart of wine.
He saith to him, Well. He saith to him that asked, Go with
us, until our wine be allayed. When they came by mobo
ΝΣ to the ladder of the Tyrians, Rabban Gamaliel came down,
and veils himself, and, sitting, resolved his vow. From this
example we learn these things, that a quart of wine makes
one drunk, that the way allays wine,” &c.
Let this be marked by the way, that it is said [" My
ΓΞ “A quart of wine makes drunk:” and let it be
compared with what R. Chaia saith, ‘S91 PIES USA
“ Four4 pots (to be drunk by every one in their sacred
feasts) contain an Italian quart of wine:” and judge how
soberly they carried it in those feasts, if they mingled not
much water with their wine.
ἃ Rambam in Demai, fol. 12. 2. ¢ 14. Avod. Zar. fol. 40. 1.
>» Hieros, Bava Kama, fol. 4. 2. 4 14. Shabb. fol. rz. 1.
156 Chorographical century.
CHAP. LXVL<«
The northern coasts of Galilee. Amanah.
The mountain of snow.
Tus coast is described by Moses, Num. xxxiv. 7: “ From
the Great Sea to mount Hor: from mount Hor to the entrance
of Hamath,” το.
Mount Hor, in the Jewish writers, is Amanah; mention of
which oceurs, Cant. iv. 8, where R. Solomon thus: ‘“ Amanah
is a mount in the northern coast of the land of Israel, which
in the Talmudical language is called 32x "VU, The moun-
tainous place of Amanon; the same with mount Hor.”
In the Jerusalem Targum, for mount ‘ Hor’ is DI DW
the mount Manus: but the Targum of Jonathan renders it
DIS DWN The mountain Umanis.
“ What (say the Jerusalem writers) is of the land of
Israel, and what without the land? Whatsoever comes down
from mount Amanah inwards is of the land of Israel; what-
soever is without the mountainous place of Amanah is with-
out the land.”
And a little after; “R. Justa Bar Shunem said, When
the Israelitess that return” (from their dispersion), ‘“ shall
have arrived at the mountainous places of Amanah, they shall
sing a song; which is proved from that which is said (Cant.
iv. 8), MPA WNW “WwW He renders it, Thou shalt sing
from the head of Amanah.”
There was also a river of the same name with the moun-
tain, of which the Targum in that place ; “ They that live
by the river Amanah, aa they that live on the top of the
mountain of snow, shall offer thee a present.” And the
Aruch, which we have noted before, writes thus; ‘ Kirmioni
is a river in the way to Damascus, and is the same with
Amanah.”
“The mountain of snow,” spon on among the para-
phrasts and Talmudists, is the same with Hermon. The
ς English folio edition, vol. 11. & Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 220.
202% h Targum in Cant. iv. 8.
f Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 36. 4, et 1 Aruch in 71905).
Challah, fol. 60. 1.
Pameas. Paneas. 137
Samaritan interpreter upon Deut. iv. 48, NIT ΓΛ ΓῚ Aw Ty
ΤΊ “Τὸ the mountain of snow which is Hermon.” And
the Jerusalem writers say, “‘ They* built for the daughters of
the Midianites little booths of hurdles from Beth-Jeshimon
unto the mountain of snow, and placed there women selling
cakes.”
The Jerusalem Targum upon Num. xxxv. writes thus;
“The mountain of snow at Czesarea” (Philippi). See also
Jonathan there.
CHAP. LXVII.
D715 Pamias. Paneas, the spring of Jordan.
THE maps assign a double spring of Jordan; but by what
right it scarce appears; much less does it appear by what
right they should call this Jor,—and that Dan. There is
indeed mention in Josephus of little Jordan and great Jor-
dan. Hence, as it seems, was the first original of the double
spring in the maps, and of a double river at those first springs.
For thus Josephus; Πηγαὶ, αἱ τὸν μικρὸν καλούμενον ᾿Ιορδάνην
προσπέμπουσι τῷ μεγάλῳ' ‘There are fountains (in Daphne)
which send little Jordan, as it is called, into the great.” He
treats, in the text cited, of the lake Samochonitis, and saith],
διατείνει δὲ αὐτῆς τὰ EAN μέχρι Δάφνης χωρίου, &e. ‘ That the
fens of it are extended to the country Daphne, which, as it is
otherwise pleasant, so it contains springs, from which issue
little Jordan,” ὅσο.
Riblah (that we may note this by the way) by the Tar-
gumists is rendered Daphne. They, upon Num. xxxiv. 11,
for that which is in the Hebrew, “ And the border shall go
down to Riblah,” render it, “ And the border shall go down
to Daphne.” See also Aruch in "357 Daphne. But this cer-
tainly is not that Daphne of which Josephus here speaks ;
which will sufficiently appear by those things that follow.
But as to the thing before us :—
I. Both he and the Talmudists assign Panium or Paneas
to be the spring of Jordan; nor do they name another.
“ Near™ Panium, as they call it (saith he"), is a most de-
k Hieros. Sanhedr. fol. 20. 4. m English folio edit., vol. ii. p.63.
1 De Bell. lib. iv. cap. τ. [Huds. n Antiq. lib. xv. cap. 13. [Huds.
Ῥ' ττύο. be (aviv τὴ p- 698. 1. to.] [xv. το 3. ]
198 Chorographical century.
lightful cave in a mountain; and under it the land hollowing
itself into a huge vale, full of standing waters. Over it a
great mountain hangs; and under the cave, rise the springs
of the river Jordan.”
And again, Παρὰ ras ᾿Ιορδάνου πηγάς" καλεῖται δὲ Πάνιον ὁ
τόπος" “Βγ the springs of Jordan: now the place is called
Panium.”
And elsewhere P, Δοκεῖ μὲν ᾿Ιορδάνον πηγὴ τὸ Πάνιον" “ Pa-
nium seems to be the fountain of Jordan :” and more may be
read there.
The Talmudists write thus; ‘“‘ Rabh4 saith, SY) (rae
Ὁ MD Jordan riseth out of the cave of Pamias: and
so is the tradition.”
pnp Ὁ owd “R. Isaac’ saith, Leshem is Pamias.” The
Gloss is, “ Leshem is a city which the Danites subdued
(Judg. xviii. 2g): Pamias is a place whence Jordan ariseth.”
And Pliny, “ Thes river of Jordan ariseth out of the foun-
tain Paneas.”
II. That fountain of Jordan was the so-much-famed foun-
tain of ‘little Jordan, as it is called. For so it is plainly
collected from Josephus. Concerning the Danites invading
Laish, or Leshem, which being subdued they called Dan, he
speaks thus; Οἱ δ᾽ δ οὐ πόρρω τοῦ Λιβάνου ὄρους καὶ ἐλάσσονος
Ιορδάνου τῶν πηγῶν, &e. “ But they, travelling a day’s journey
through the great plain of Sidon, not far from mount Libanus,
and the springs of lesser Jordan, observe the land to be good
and fruitful, and shew it unto their tribe; who, invading it
with an army, build the city Dan.”
In like manner speaking of Jeroboam, he saith these
things; “‘ He" built two temples for the golden calves,—one
in Beth-el, ἕτερον δὲ ἐν Δάνῃ, ἢ δέ ἐστι πρὸς ταῖς πηγαῖς τοῦ
μικροῦ ᾿Ιορδάνου : the other in Dan, which is at the springs of
little Jordan.”
You may certainly wonder and be amazed that the foun-
tain of Little Jordan should be so famed and known; and in
© Jd. de Bell. lib. i. cap. 16. [1. 5. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 15.
2Ἷν .3.]} t Joseph. Antiq. lib. v. cap. 2.
P Ibid. lib. iii. cap. 35. [iii 10.7.] [Hudson, p. 199. 1. 44.] [v. 3. 1.]
4 Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 74. 2. " Td. ibid. lib.viii. | Hudson, p.364.
r Id. Megill. fol. 6.1. 1. 44.) [viii. 8. 4.]
Pameas. Paneas. 139
the mean time, the fountain of Great Jordan to lie hid, not to
be spoken of, and to be buried in eternal obscurity. What!
is the 7058 worthy of so much fame; and the greater, of none
at all? Let us have liberty to speak freely what we think,
with the leave of chorographers.
I. It does not appear that any other river of Jordan flows
into the lake Samochonitis beside that which ariseth from
Paneas. In what author will you find the least sign of such
a river? But only that such a conjecture crept into the maps,
and into the minds of men, out of the before alleged words of
Josephus, misconceived.
11. We think, therefore, that Jordan is called the Greater
and the Less, not upon any account of two fountains, or two
rivers, different and distant from one another; but upon ac-
count of the distinct greatness of the same river. Jordan,
rising out of Paneas, was called Little*, until it flowed into
the lake Samochonitis; but afterward coming out of that
lake, when it had obtained a great increase from that lake,
it was thenceforth called Jordan the Greater. Samochonitis
received Little Jordan, and sent forth the Great. For since
both that lake and the country adjacent was very fenny, as
appears out of Josephus,—the lake was not so much in-
creased by Jordan flowing into it, as it increased Jordan
flowing out of it. Κόπτει Υ τὰ τῆς Σεμεχωνίτιδος λίμνης ἕλη TE
καὶ τέλματα᾽ “Moors and fenny places possess the parts about
the lake Samochonitis.” The river, therefore, below Samo-
chonitis seems to be called ‘ Jordan ;’ above Samochonitis,
‘ Little Jordan.’
Ceesarea Philippi was built at Paneas, the fountain of
Jordan: which let the maps observe that they place it not
too remote thence. Φίλιππος πρὸς ταῖς ᾿Ιορδάνου πηγαῖς ἐν
Πανεάδι πόλιν κτίζει Καισάρειαν “ Philip? built the city Ce-
sarea in Paneas, at the springs of Jordan.” And also, Tlavedda
κατασκευάσας ὀνομάζει Karodpecav’ “ Having? finished Paneas,
he named it Ceesarea.”
x Leusden’s edition, vol. 11. p.221. 2 Id. [de Bello, ii. 9. 1.]
y Id. de Bello, lib. 111. cap. 35. a Id. | Antiq. xviii. 2. 1.]
[Hudson, p.1154.1.53.] [ill. το. 7.]
140 Chorographical century.
CHAP. EXVITL
What is to be said of SY2DN7 SID, the sea of Apamia.
ΝΘ ND ‘The sea of Apamia is reckoned the seventh
among those seas that compass the land of Israel; which
word hath a sound so near akin to the word Pamias, by
which name the Rabbins point out the fountains of Jordan,
—that the mention of that word cannot but excite the me-
mory of this, yea, almost persuade that both design one
and the same place: and that the sea Apamia was nothing
else but some great collection of waters at the very springs
of Jordan.
This> also might moreover be added to strengthen that
persuasion, that, in both places, in the quotations cited in
the Jerusalem Talmud, these words are added; “The sea
of Apamia is the same with the sea οἵ Chamats, which
pirmbont Diccletianus, by the gathering together of the
waters, caused to be made.” But now that Dioeletianus,
whosoever he was (we prove elsewhere that he was the em-
peror), lived sometime at Paneas ; as is clear also from the
same Talmud ¢.
But the thing is otherwise. Pamias and Apamia were
different places, and far distant from each other: one in the
land of Israel; the other in the confines indeed of the land of
Israel, but in Syria.
Let this tradition be marked :—“ Ariston¢ brought his
first-fruits from Apamia, and they were received: for they
said, He that hath a possession in Syria, is as if he had it in
the suburbs of Jerusalem.” The Gloss is, ‘ Apamia is the
name of a place in Syria.”
And these things do appear more clearly in the Tar-
gumists, to omit other authors. The Samaritan interpreter
renders the word O5W (Shepham,) Numb. XXXiv. 10, by THY
Apamia, with Y (Ain). (Note Ὁ (Shin) changed into y (Ain):
note also, in the word Bozor, 2 Pet. ii. 15, Δ) (Ain) changed
into W (Shin).) Jonathan reads it MN MODs Apamia, with
& (Aleph) : for abaya DEWwID “ From Shepham to Riblah,”
he renders ned | TIEN yO: From Apamia to Daphne.
b English folio edition, vol. ii. p. ¢ Hieros. Trumoth, fol. 46. 2.
64. ( Challah, cap. 4. hal. 11.
The Lake Semochonitis. 141
CHAP. LXIX.
The lake Samochonitis {or Semechonitis. |
In the Holy Scriptures it is the ‘ Water of Merom,’
Josh. xi.5. In the Babylonian Talmudists it is "3307 709
‘The Sibbechean sca.’ Hence is that, “ Jordan® ariseth out
of the cave of Paneas, and flows into the Sibbechean sea.”
In the Jerusalem Talmudists, sometimes it is JD33574 NO
‘The sea of Cobebo,’ as we have noted before; and sometimes
D207 ΝΥ ‘ The sea of Samaco ;’ whence in other languages
it is ‘Samachonitis.’
Tf Σεμεχωνιτῶν λίμνῃ τριάκοντα μὲν εὖρος, ἑξήκοντα δὲ μῆκος
στάδια. Διατείνει δὲ αὐτῆς τὰ ἕλη μέχρι Δάφνης χωρίου" “ The
lake Semechonitis is thirty furlongs in breadth, and sixty in
length. The fens of it are stretched out unto the country
Daphne; a country, as it is otherwise pleasant, so containing
fountains: al, tpépovoa τὸν μικρὸν καλούμενον Ἰορδάνην ὑπὸ
τὸν τῆς χρυσῆς βοὸς νεὼν, προσπέμπουσι τῷ μεγάλῳ. The
seruple lies concerning the pointing of ὑπὸ τὸν τῆς χρυσῆς Boos
νεών. The sentence and sense seems indeed to flow more
smoothly, if you should render it thus, “The springs which,
nourishing Little Jordan, as it is called, send it out into the
Great, under the temple of the golden calf:” but then a just
doubt ariseth of the situation of that temple. That clause,
therefore, is rather to be referred to the foregoing, so that
the sense may go thus; ‘The springs, which, nourishing
Little Jordan, as it is called, under the temple of the golden
calf, send it into the Great:” and so you have the temple of
the golden calf at the springs of Jordan, and the place ad-
jacent called Daphne, and the marshes of Samochonitis reach-
ing thither.
Thes Jerusalem Gemarists do thus explain those words of
Ezekiel, chap. xlvii. 8: “ These waters go forth into the east
coast: 13D by Do wit that is, into the lake Samochonitis.
And they shall go down into the plain; that is, into the sea
of Tiberias. And they shall go out into the sea; that is, into
the Dead Sea.”
[“Acwpos πόλις] ὑπέρκειται τῆς Σαμαχωνίτιδος λίμνης. ‘ The
e Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 74. 2. [ Hudson, p. 1160. 1. 4.] [iv. 1.1.]
f Jos. de Bell. lib. iv. cap. 1. & Hieros. Shekalim, fol. 50. 1.
142 Chorographical century.
city Hazor (saith Josephuss) lies on the lake Semechonitis.”
This city is the metropolis of Canaan, that is, of that northern
country, which is known by that name: which is called also
‘Galilee of the Gentiles’ Jabin the king of Hazor, and
others, fight with Joshua at the waters of Merom, that is, at
the lake Samochonitis, Josh. xi. 4%. And Jonathani in the
same place, as it seems, with the army of Demetrius, ’Ev πεδίῳ
᾿Ασὼρ, “in the plain of Asor,” as the same Josephus writes.
But, in the Book of the Maccabees, it is τὸ πεδίον Νασὼρ, “ The
plain of Nasor,” 1 Mace. xi. 67.
COHAPS xix
The lake of Gennesaret ; or, the sea of Galilee and Tiberias.
Jorpan! is measured at one hundred and twenty furlongs,
from the lake of Samochonitis to that of Gennesaret. That
lake, in the Old Testament, is 3575" ‘The sea of Chin-
nereth,’ Numb. xxxiv. 11, i, ὅτο. In the Tar oumists, ADIT ΝῺ
‘The sea of Genesar; sometimes, WO 127 ‘of Genesor ;’
sometimes, IDI ‘of Ginosar:’ it is the same also in the
Talmudists, but most frequently ΣΙ S109 ‘The sea of
Tiberiah. Both names are used by the evangelists; ‘the
lake of Gennesaret,’ Luke v.1; ‘the sea of Tiberias,’ John
Xxl.1; and ‘the sea of Galilee, John vi. 1.
The name ‘ Chinnereth’ passed into ‘Genesar,’ in regard of
the pleasantness of the country, well filled with gardens and
paradises: of which we shall speak afterward. [ch. Ixxix.]
It is disputed by the Jerusalem Talmudists, why M25
‘Chinneroth’ occurs sometimes in the plural number; as
Josh xi. 2, nz aaa The south of Chinneroth; and Josh.
ΧΙ ee ee wp Es Ὁ) ‘The sea of Chinneroth” “'Thencem (say
they) are there two Gennesarets? Or there were 2” SOs
MVNA but two castles, as Beth-Jerach, and Sinnabris,
which are DATS Mb wy towers of the people of Chinnereth ;
but the fortification is destroyed, and fallen into the hands
of the Gentiles.” You see, by the very sense of the place,
& Joseph. Antiq. hb: v. cap. 6. k English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 65.
[ Hudson, p. 202. J. 25. [v. 5.1.} 1 Joseph. de Bell. lib. iii. cap. 35.
h Leusden’s edition, vol. i. p. 222... [ili ro: ἢ:
i Jos. Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 9. m Jerus. Megill. fol. 70. £.
(xii, 5.7.)
The Lake of Gennesaret. 143
what the word ΓΝ means. Perhaps it is the same
with the word nebuas in the Aruch, and with MN DIS
in the Babylonian writers". In whom, the Glosser being inter-
preter, ΓΝ ΟΣ ΠΣ “are two presidentships in the same
kingdom.” The Gemara affords an example, in 22) 2:
But in the Aruch “ mbps Ὁ) are two castles, between
which is a bridge, under which notwithstanding is no water.”
And it yields an example, in W125) ὭΣ. But we make
no tarrying here. “722% Stnnabri in the Talmudists is
Σενναβρὶς, Sennabris, in Josephus, being distant from Tiberias
thirty furlongs.. For he tells us, that Vespasian encamped
thirty furlongs from Tiberias, κατά τινα σταθμὸν εὐσύνοπτον
τοῖς νεωτερίζουσι, SevvaBpls ὀνομάζεται, “at a certain station,
that might easily be seen by the innovators, called Sennabris.”
He speaks also of the town TwraBpiv, Ginnabrin, not far
distant certainly from this place. For describing the country
about Jordan, heP saith, that from both regions of it runs
out a very long back of mountains, but distant some miles
from the river: on this side, from the region of Seythopolis
to the Dead Sea; on that side, from Julias to Somorrha,
towards the rock of Arabia: and that there hes a plain between,
which is called μέγα πεδίον, ἀπὸ κώμης Γινναβρὶν διῆκον μέχρι
τῆς ᾿ΔΑσφαλτίτιδος λίμνης" ‘the great plain, lying along from
the town Gennabrin to the lake Asphaltites.”’
The same Josephus writes thus of the lake Gennesaret :
“H4 δὲ λίμνη Γεννησὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς προσεχοῦς χώρας καλεῖται, στα-
δίων δὲ εὖρος οὖσα τεσσαράκοντα, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἑτέρων ἑκατὸν
τὸ μῆκος, γλυκεῖά τε ὅμως ἐστὶ καὶ ποτιμωτάτη. “The lake
Gennesar is so called from the adjacent country, being forty
furlongs in breadth, and moreover a hundred in length; it
is both sweet and excellent to drink.”
Pliny thus ;—‘ Jordan’, upon the first fall of the valleys,
pours itself into the lake, which many call Genesar, sixteen
miles long and six miles broad.”
i pobmen oven pao ΝΥΊΣΙΘῪ NO “Thee sea of
Tiberias is like the gliding waters.” While the masters pro-
n Bab. Becoroth, fol. 55. 1. 4 Joseph. de Bell. lib. ii. cap. 35.
© Joseph. de Bell. lib. ii. cap. 31. [Hudson, p. 1154. 1. 13.] [11. 10.
[Hudson, p. 1150. 1. 5.] [iili.9.7.] ἢ:
P Id. ibid. lib. 4. cap.17. [Hud- r Phin. lib. v. cap. 15.
son, p. 1193.] [iv. 8. 2.] 5. Hieros. Avod. Zar. fol. 42.1.
144 Chorographical century.
duce these words, they discourse what is to be thought of
those waters, where the unclean fish swim together with the
clean; whether such waters are fit to boil food or no: and it
is answered, ‘ Flowing and gliding waters are fit; those that
do not glide are not; and that the lake of Gennesaret is to
be numbered among gliding waters.’
The Jews believe, or feign, that this lake is beloved by
God above all the lakes of the land of Canaan. “Seven seas
(say theyt) have I created, saith God, and of them all I have
chosen none but the sea of Gennesaret.” Which words, per-
haps, were invented for the praise of the university at Tiberias,
that was contiguous to this lake; but they are much more
agreeable to truth, being applied to the very frequent resorts
of our Saviour thither.
CHAP. LXXI.u
Within what tribe the lake of Gennesaret was.
By comparing the maps with the Talmudic writers, this
question ariseth: for there is not one among them, as far as
I know, which does not altogether define the sea of Gennesaret
to be without the tribe of Naphthali; but the Talmudists do
most plainly place it within.
SELENE,
sono) Sw τα rman Ὁ mm “A’n «The
Rabbins deliver: The sea of Tiberias is in the portion of
Naphtali ; yea, it takes a full line for the nets on the south
side of it: as it is said, ‘Possess the sea and the south,
Deut. xxxiii. 23.” The Gloss is; ‘ (Naphtali) had a full line
in the dry land on the south coast, that he might draw out his
nets.” So also the Jerusalem writers; ‘“Theyy gave to
Naphtali a full line on the south coast of the sea, as it is
said, ‘ Possess the sea and the south.’” They are the words
of Rabbi Josi of Galilee. So that Talmud that was written
at Tiberias: so R. Josi, who was a Galilean.
The words of Josephus, which we cited before, are agree-
able to these. Ζαβουλωνίταιξ τὴν μέχρι Γεννησαρίτιδος, &e.
“The tribe? of Zebulon’s portion was to the sea of Genne-
t Midras Tillin, fol. 4. 1. 2 Jos. Antiq. lib. v. cap. τ. [Hud-
α English folio edit., vol. ii. p.66. son, p. 188. ]. 19.] [v. 1. 22.]
x Bab. Bava Kama, fol. 81. 2. a Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p.
y Hieros. Bava Bathra, fol. 15.1. 223.
The Lake of Gennesaret. 145
saret, stretched out also [7 Jength] to Carmel and the sea.”
On the south, the land of Zebulon was bounded by that of
Issachar, extending itself in breadth μέχρι Γεννησαρίτιδος, “ to
Gennesaret :” touching only upon Gennesaret, not eompre-
hending Gennesaret within it. So the same Josephus speaks
in the place alleged, that Νεφθαλίται παρέλαβον τὰ πρὸς τὰς
ἀνατολὰς τετραμμένα μέχρι Δαμασκοῦ πόλεως, “the men of
Naphtali took those parts that ran out eastwardly unto the
city of Damascus.” It would be ridiculous, if you should so
render μέχρι Δαμασκοῦ πόλεως, “unto the city of Damascus,”
as to include Damascus within the land of Naphtali. The maps
are guilty of the like solecism, while they make Zebulon, which
only came μέχρι Γεννησαρίτιδος, “unto the lake of Gennesaret,”
to comprise all the lake of Gennesaret within it. Look into
Adrichomius, to say nothing of others, and compare these
words of Josephus with him.
Hither perhaps is that to be reduced, which hath not a
little vexed interpreters in Josh. xix; where Jordan is twice
mentioned, in defining the limits of the tribe of Naphtali ;
ver. 33, “the outgoings of the border,” hence, “was to Jor-
dan;” and, ver. 34, WUT MIN [WI WN “The
going out from thence [that 1 is, from the south border] was to
Jordan in Judah towards the sun-rising.”
What hath the land of Naphtali to do with Jordan in
Judah ?
I answer, Judah, that is, Judea, is here opposed to Galilee :
Judah is not here spoken of as opposed to the other tribes.
Before ever the name of Samaria was risen, the name of
Galilee was very well known, Josh. xx. 7; and so was the
name of Judea: and at that time one might not improperly
divide the whole land within Jordan into Galilee and Judea :
when as yet there was no such thing as the name of Samaria.
The words alleged, therefore, come to this sense, as if it had
been said, ‘The north bounds of Naphtali went out east-
wardly to Jordan in Galilee: in like manner the south bounds
went out eastwardly to Jordan now running into Judea ;’ that
is, the country without Galilee, which as yet was not called
Samaria, but rather Judea.
The bounds, certainly, of the land of Naphtali seem to
touch Jordan on both sides, both on the north and the south ;
LIGHTFOOT, VOL. I. L
140 Chorographical century.
and so to contain the sea of Gennesaret within its bosom,
according to that which is said by the Talmudists before
alleged, and those also men of Tiberias.
While 1 am discoursing of Jordan, and this lake, let me
add this moreover concerning the ‘ boat of Jordan ’?—“ R.
Jacob» Bar Aidai saith, in the name of R. Jochanan, Let no
man absent himself from Beth-Midrash, for this question was
many a time propounded in Jabneh, 8°74 mia) pt NAY
MND The boat, or barge, of Jordan, why is it unclean ? Nor
was there any who could answer any thing to it; until R.
Chaninah, the son of Antigonus, came, and expounded it in
his city. The boat of Jordan is unclean, because they fill it
with fruit, and sail down with it from the sea unto the dry
land, and from the dry land into the sea.”"—771"y), the Jews
themselves being interpreters, is MW MHD ὦ small vessel,
πλοιάριον, ὦ little ship. Josephus hath these words; Τὰς δὲ
ἐπὶ τῆς λίμνης σκάφη πάντα συναθροίσας, &e. “ Having gathered
together all the boats in the lake, they were found to be
two hundred and thirty, and there were no more than four
mariners in each.”
CHAP. LXXII.4
Tiberias.
Aut the Jews declare, almost with one consent, that this
was a fortified city from ancient times, even from the days of
Joshua, and was the same with Rakkath, of which mention is
made, Josh. xix. 35.
PSMAV NTMI “ Rakkath is Tiberias,” say the Jerusa-
lem Gemarists*, And those of Babylon say the same, and that
more largely: NAD VHP o Nap) “Itt is clear to
us that Rakkath is Tiberias.” And when, after a few lines,
this of Rabbi Jochanan was objected, ‘‘ When I was a boy,
I said a certain thing, concerning which 1 asked the elders,
and it was found as I said; namely, that Chammath is Ti-
berias, and Rakkath Zippor ;” it is thus at last concluded,
“ Rabbi said, Who is it, to whom it was said, that Rakkath
is not Tiberias? For, behold! when any dies here (in Baby-
Ὁ Hieros. Shabb. fol. 7. 1. ἃ English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 67.
¢ Joseph. de Bell. lib. ii. cap. 43. e Hieros. Megill. fol. 70. 1.
{Hudson, p. 1112. 1. 46.] [1]. 21. 8.] f Bab. Megill. fol. 5. 2. et 6.1.
Tiberias. 147
lon), they lament him there (at Tiberias) after this manner ,
The hearse of a famous man deceased in Sheshach (Babylon);
whose name also is of note in Rakkath, is brought hither:
thus lament ye him,—O ye lovers of Israel, O citizens of Rak-
kath, come forth, and bewail the dead of Babylon! When
the soul of R. Zeira was at rest, thus one lamented him, The
land of Babylon conceived and brought forth delights, the
land of Israel nourished them. Rakkath said, Woe to itself
because she lost the vessels of her delights. Therefore saith
Rabba, Chammath is the same with the warm baths of Gadar,
and Rakkath is Tiberias.”
This city touched on the sea, so that the sea served on one
side for a wall to it. Hence is that, in the place but now
cited ; “ Rabh Hezekiah read the Book of Esther in Tiberias,
on the fourteenth day (of the month Adar), and also on the
fifteenth day (see Esth. ix. 21), doubting whether it were
compassed with walls from the days of Joshua, or not. But
who would doubt this of Tiberias? when it is written, ‘ And
the fenced cities were Ziddim, Zer, Chammath, Rakkath, and
Chinnereth.’ But it is clear to us that Rakkath is Tiberias.
The reason, therefore, why he doubted was this, because on
one side it was enclosed by the sea instead of a wall. But if
it were so, why did he doubt? Because, truly, it was no wall.
When the tradition is thus, APN WW soy wow we WS
DAD A city which hath a walls, but not fortified walls, the
contiguous houses are for such walls. TOW NADY wry
maw But Tiberias is excepted, which hath the sea Sor a wall.”
So also R. Simeon Ben Jochai, in the Jerusalem Gemara just
now alleged : ‘ Among the cities fortified with walls Tiberias
is excepted, as having the sea for a wall.’
What fortune this city underwent under the name Rak-
kath, remains unknown. Herod the tetrarch put the name
of Tiberias upon it, and built the city, for the sake and me-
mory of Tiberius Cesar. The etymology of which place while
the Gemarists deduce elsewhere, namely, either from 2
mms Tob rea, because it was fair to behold, or ΓΤ ὩΣ
“because it was Betiborah, in the navel, or middle,” &c. they
seem rather to sport out of a luxuriant wit, than to be igno-
rant of the thing itself.
& Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 224.
L 2
148 Chorographical century.
CHAP. LXXITI.
Of the Situation of Tiberias.
Wuen 1 read Pliny of the situation of this city, and com-
pare some things which are said by Josephus and the Tal-
mudists with him, I cannot but be at a stand what to re-
solve upon here. Pliny speaks thus" of the situation of it :
“The lake [of Genesar] is compassed round with pleasant
towns: on the east, Julias and Hippo; on the south, Tari-
chea, by which name some call the lake also; on the west,
Tiberias, healthful for its warm waters.”
Consulti the maps, and you see Tiberias in them seated, as
it were, in the middle shore of the sea of Gennesaret, equally
distant almost from the utmost south and north coasts of
that sea. Which seems well indeed to agree with Pliny, but
illy with Josephus and his countrymen.
I. Josephus asserts that Hippo (in Perea, i. e. the country
on the other side Jordan) is distant from Tiberias only thirty
furlongs. For speaking to one Justus, a man of Tiberias,
thus he saith, Ἢ δὲ σὴ πατρὶς, ὦ lodote, κειμένη ἐν τῇ Γεννησα-
ρίτιδι λίμνῃ, καὶ ἀπέχουσα μὲν Ἵππου στάδια τριάκοντα, &e.
“ Thy* native country, O Justus, lying upon the lake of Gen-
nesaret, and distant from Hippo thirty furlongs,” &e. The
same author asserts also (which we produced before), that!
the breadth of the sea of Gennesaret was forty furlongs.
Therefore, with what reason do the maps place the whole sea
of Gennesaret between Tiberias and Hippo? Read those
things in Josephus, look upon the maps, and judge.
II. The same Josephus saith of the same Justus, ᾿Ἐμπί-
πρησι ὃ ᾿Ιοῦστος τάς τε Γαδαρηνῶν καὶ ᾿Ἱππηνῶν κώμας" at δὴ
μεθόριοι τῆς Τιβεριάδος, καὶ τῆς τῶν Σκυθοπολιτῶν γῆς ἐτύγ-
χανον κείμεναι. “Justus™ burnt the towns of those of Gadara
and Hippo. And the towns bordering upon Tiberias, and
the land of the Seythopolitans, were laid waste.” Note, how
the towns of those of Gadara and Hippo are called μεθόριοι,
“towns bordering upon Tiberias ;”’ which certainly cannot
h Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap.15. [Hudson, p. 938. 1. 16.] [c. 65.]
i English folio edition, vol. ii. 1 Td. de Bell. lib. iii. 35. [iii. το. 7.]
. 68. m Joseph. in his own life, p. 628.
k Joseph. in his own life, p.650. [Hudson, p. 908. 1. 17.] [e. 9-]
Situation of Tiberias. 149
consist together, if the whole sea be between, which is so put
by the maps.
III. Those things which we learn from the Talmudists
concerning the situation of this place cannot be produced,
until we have first observed certain neighbouring places to
Tiberias ; from the situation of which, it will be more easy to
- judge of the situation of this.
In the mean time, from these things, and what was said
before, we assert thus much: That you must suppose Tiberias
seated either at the very flowing-in of Jordan into the lake
of Gennesaret,—namely, on the north side of the lake, where
the maps place Capernaum [illy]; or at the flowing out of
Jordan out of that lake, namely, on the south side of the
lake. But you cannot place it where Jordan flows into it,
because Josephus saith, Tiberias is not distant from Scytho-
polis above a ltundred and twenty furlongs,—that is, fifteen
miles; but now the lake of Gennesaret itself was a hundred
furlongs in length, and Scythopolis was the utmost limits of
Galilee southward, as we shewed before.
Therefore we are not afraid to conclude that Tiberias was
seated where Jordan flows out of the lake of Gennesar, namely,
at the south shore of the lake; where Jordan receives itself
again within its own channel. This will appear by those
things that follow.
We doubt, therefore, of the right pointing of Pliny. Cer-
tainly we are not satisfied about it; and others will be less
satisfied about our alteration of it. But let me, with their
good leave, propose this reading, “ Ab oriente, Juliade; et,
Hippo a meridie. Tarichzea, quo nomine aliqui lacum ap-
pellant, ab occidente. Tiberiade, aquis calidis salubri.”—*«< On
the east Julias, and Hippo on the south. Tarichea, by which
name some eall the lake, on the west. Tiberias, wholesome
for its warm waters.” Which reading is not different from
Pliny’s style, and agrees well with the Jewish writers: but
we submit our judgment to the learned.
150 Chorographical century.
CHAP. LXXIV.
mon Chammath. Ammaus. ΣΑΣ DN The warm baths
of Tiberias.
Cuammatu and Rakkath are joined together, Josh. xix. 35.
For they were very neighbouring cities ; Rakkath is Tibe-
rias,—and Chammath κώμη Appaots, the town Ammaus, in
Josephus.
Of their neighbourhood, the Jerusalem Talmudists™ write
thus: “The men of a great city may walk” (on the sabbath)
“ through a whole small city” (which was within a sabbath-
day’s journey) ; “ but the inhabitants of a small city walk not
through a whole great city.” And then follows, “ Formerly®
the men of Tiberias walked through all Chammath; but the
men of Chammath passed not beyond the arch: but now
those of Chammath and those of Tiberias do make one city.”
AndP the Babylonian Talmudists4 thus, sand reine)
9 “ from Chammath to Tiberias is a mile.”
“ Chammath' is Tiberias. And why is it called Cham-
math? ΣΕΥ ΣΟ Yan OW by By reason of the Chammi, warm
baths of Tiberias.”
It is not seldom ealled 3937 MOM‘ Chammath of Gadara ;’
not only because it was very near the Gadarene country,—
for the channel of Jordan only was between ;—but because it
was built, as it seems, on both the banks of Jordan, the two
parts of the town joining by a bridge.
« Rabbahs said, Chammath is the same with the warm
baths of Gadara, and Rakkath is Tiberias.”
“Itt was lawful for the Gadarenes, R. Judah Nasi per-
mitting them, to go down into Chammath [on the sabbath],
and to return into Gadara: but the men of Chammath
might not go up into Gadara.”
Behold! Tiberias so near to Chammath, that it was almost
one city with it: and Chammath so near to the country of
Gadara, that thence it took the name of ‘ Chammath of Ga-
dara.’
n Hieros. Erubhin, fol. 23. 4. τ Tbid. fol. 6. 1.
© Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 225. 5. Idem. ibid.
P English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 69. τ Hieros. Erubhin, fol. 23. 4.
4 Bab. Megill. fol. 2. 2.
Gadara. 151
« R. Samuel" Bar Nathan, in the name of R. Chama Bar
Chaninah, said, I and my father went up to Chammath of
Gadara, and they set before us small eggs.”
“Ἢ, Jonathan * and R. Judah Nasi went W737 NMVON 7
Chammath of Gadara.”
“ R. Immaiy and R. Judan Nasi” [he was grandson of
R. Judah Nasi] “ went to Chammath of Gadara.”
Of the warm baths of Tiberias the Talmudists speak much.
Let these few things be collected out of them :—
“ R. Josua# Ben Levi being sick, washed sometime in the
warm baths of Tiberias, (ΣΝ ΣΙ POV WWI WD) lean-
ing on the shoulders of R. Chajia Bar Ba.”
“ Three® warm baths remained from the waters of the de-
laces? TNT sda the whirlpool of Gadara : that pool
of Gadara, it may be, is that, which being drank of, as
Strabo > relates, cattle lose their hair, horns, and hoofs. IT.
OVA IND ΓΝ"), the great fountain of Biram. Of Biram,
see Bab. Rosh hashanah, fol. 23. 2. the first line. III. wan
N7AAw, the warm baths of Tiberias.
: ΒΥ NM AA ww jb yn « Theye allowed them
the waters of Meara and the warm baths of Tiberias.”
So also Josephus4: “ John (of Giscala) writ to me, praying
Χρήσασθαι τοῖς ἐν Τιβεριάδι θερμοῖς ὕδασι, ‘ that I would permit
him the use of the warm baths which are at Tiberias.’”
And so Pliny before: “ Tiberiade, aquis calidis salubri ;”
“ Tiberias, healthful for its warm waters.”
CHAP. LXXV.
Gadara. V1,
Turre was a double Gadara. One at the shore of the
Mediterranean sea: that was first called Gezer, 1 Kings ix.
15. In Josephus, Γάζαρα, Gazara®. Κατεστρέψατο yap Σίμων
Tdéapdv τε πόλιν, καὶ ᾿Ιόππην, καὶ Iduveray’ ‘“ Simon destroyed
the city Gazara, and Joppe, and Jamnia.”—And in the Book
« Hieros. Shabb. fol. 5. 4. & Tru- a Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 108. 1.
moth, fol. 41.1. b Strabo, lib. xvi.
x Idem. Kiddush. fol. 64. 3. ¢ Hieros. Shabb. fol. 6. 1.
y Id. Avodah Zarah, fol. 42. 1. & 4 Joseph. in his own life. [c. 16.]
45. 2. © Joseph. Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 11.
z Jd. Shabb. fol. 3.1. [ xiii. 6. 7.]
1δῷ Chorographical century.
of the Maccabees‘, Καὶ ᾿Ιόππην ὠχύρωσε τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης,
καὶ τὴν Γάζαρα τὴν ἐπὶ τῶν ὁρίων ᾿Αζώτου: “ And he fortified
Joppe, which is on the sea, and Gazara, which is on the bor-
ders of Azotus.”
At length, according to the idiom of the Syrian dialect,
} (Zain) passed into Ἵ (Daleth); and instead of Gazara, it was
called Gadara. Hence Strabo, after the mention of Jamnia,
saith &, καὶ ἡ Tadapis ἐστιν, εἶτ᾽ "Αζωτος καὶ ᾿Ασκάλων : “ and
there is Gadaris, then Azotus and Ascalon.” And a little
after; “ Philodemus the Epicurean was a Gadarene, and so
was Meleager and Menippus, 6 σπουδογελοῖος. surnamed the
‘ridiculous student,’ and Theodorus the rhetorician,” &e.
But the other Gadara, which we seek, was in Perea, and
was the metropolis of Perea. ᾿Ελθόντων ἐπὶ τὰ Γάδαρα, Mn-
τρόπολιν τῆς Περαίας καρτεράν" “ Being come into the parts
of Gadara, the strong metropolis of Perea.” They are the
words of Josephus ὃ.
It was sixty furlongs distant from Tiberias‘, by the mea-
sure of the same author.
“ Gadarak, the river Hieramax nen Jarmoc, of which
before] flowing by it, and now called Hippodion.” Some
reckon it among the cities of the country of Decapolis.
Another! city, also <Gergesa’ by name, was so near to it,
that that which in Mark is called χώρα Γαδαρηνῶν, “ the
country of the Gadarenes, chap. v. 1,—in Matthew is χώρα
Γεργεσηνῶν, ‘ the country of the Gergesenes,’ chap. vill. 28 :
which whether it took its name from the Girgashites, the
posterity of Canaan,—or from the clayish nature of the soil,
(NIMWIIAA Gargishta, signifying clay,)—we leave to the more
learned to be decided. The Chaldee certainly renders that
SWI AW thick dirt, which is in the Hebrew MONT Ty
the clay ground, 1 Kings vii. 46. ,
The Jerusalem writers say, that ™ the Girgashites, when
Joshua came, and proclaimed, “ He that will go out hence,
let him go,”—betook themselves into Africa.
ἔα Macc. xiv. 34. i Id. in his own life, p.650. [c. 65. ]
& Strabo, lib. xvi. pag. mihi 878. k Plin. lib. v. cap.18.
[xvi. 2.] 1 English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 70.
h Jos. de Bell. lib. iv. cap. 26. [iv. m Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 36. 3.
7-3]
Magdala. 153
CHAP. LXXVILP
Magdala.
Nor far from Tiberias and Chammath was Magdala. You
may learn their neighbourhood hence :—
«Τῇ 4 a man have two floors, one in Magdala and another
in Tiberias,—he may remove his fruits from that in Magdala,
to be eaten in that of Tiberias.”
«Ἢν, Simeont Ben Jochai, by reason of certain shambles
in the streets of Tiberias, was forced to purify that place.
And whosoever travelled by Magdala might hear the voice
of a scribe, saying, Behold! Bar Jochai purifies Tiberias.”
« A certain’ old shepherd came, and said before Rabbi, “1
remember the men of Magdala going up to Chammath, and
walking through all Chammath” (on the sabbath), “ and
coming as far as the outmost street, as far as the bridge.
Therefore Rabbi permitted the men of Magdala to go into
Chammath, and to go through all Chammath, and to proceed
as far as the farthermost street, as far as the bridge.”
Josephust hath these words of Magdala; Πέμπει δ᾽ ὁ Ba-
σιλεὺς ᾿Αγρίππας δύναμιν καὶ στρατηγὸν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῆς Μαγδαλὰ τὸ
φρουρίον ἐξαιρήσοντας" “ King Agrippa sends forces and a
captain into Magdala itself to destroy the garrison.” We
meet with frequent mention of the Rabbins, or scholars, of
Magdala :—
ΒΥ ΟἼΣΩ ay “ἢ, Judan¥ of Magdala.”
ΓΝ Δ pny Ἢ « R. Isaac* of Magdala.”
_ R, Goriony saith, The men of Magdala asked R. Simeon
Ben Lachish,” &e.
It is sometimes called 771} bam ‘ Magdala? of Gadara,’
because it was beyond Jordan.
CHEAP ΤΧ ͵ΧΥΊΙ.
Hippo. τ᾽ Susitha.
You may suppose, upon good grounds, that Hippo is the
Ρ Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 226. u Hieros. Beracoth, fol. 13. 1.
4 Hieros. Maasaroth, fol. 50.3. ‘Taanith, fol. 64.1.
r Id. Sheviith, fol. 38. 4. X Bab. Joma, fol. 81. 2.
5. Id. Erubhin, fol. 23. 4. y Hieros. Megill. fol. 73. 4.
t Joseph. in his own life. [c. 24.] z Bab. Taanith, fol. 20. 1.
154 Chorographical century.
same with ΠΟΘ Susitha in the Talmudists, from the very
signification of the word. [Ὁ Ξξ ἵππος) Inquire. Of it there
is this mention :—
« R. Joshua Ben Levi® saith, It is written, And Jephthah
fled from the face of his brethren, and dwelt in the land of
Tobh. DID VW, which is Susitha.” If you would render
it in Greek, it is Ἵππηνὴ, Hippene.
This city was replenished with Gentiles, but not a few Jews
mixed with them. Hence is that», “ If two witnesses come
out of a city, the major part whereof consists of Gentiles,
ΓΘ NWT Pd as Susitha,” &c. And after a few lines,
“Τὺ, Immai circumcised from the testimony of women, who
said the sun was upon Susitha.” For it was not lawful to
circumcise, but in the day-time.
Hippo’ was distant from Tiberias thirty furlongs only.
CHAP. LXXVIII.4
Some other towns near Tiberias. py ma Beth-Meon.
wT AWD Caphar Chittaia. minade Paliathah.
Amone the towns, neighbouring upon Tiberias, Tarichee is
especially commemorated in Josephus®, a city thirty furlongs
distant from Tiberias: you will find in him the history and
mention of it very frequent.
In the Talmudists we meet with other names also.
IT. 39x Moa Beth-Meon. “ Thef men of Tiberias, who
went up to Beth-Meon to be hired for workmen, were hired
according to the custom of Beth-Meon: the men of Beth-
Meon, who went down to Tiberias to be hired, were hired
according to the custom of Tiberias.”’
This place is also called, as it seems, [ay rea Beth-Mein.
In the place noted’ in the margin, they are treating of the
town Timnath: of which it is said, that ‘Samson went up to
Timnath ;” and elsewhere, that “ the father-in-law of Samson
went down to Timnath:” so that there was both a ‘ going up’
and a ‘going down’ thither. R. Aibu Bar Nigri at last con-
a Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 36. 3. e Joseph. in his own life, p. 637
Ὁ Id. Rosh Hashanah, fol. 54. 4. [6. 31, 54, 73-]
¢ Joseph. in his own life, pag. f Hieros. Bava Mezia, fol. 11. 2.
mihi 650. [c. 65. | & Id. Sotah, fol. 17. 1.
ἃ English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 71.
The Country of Gennesaret. 155
cludes, and saith, “It is like to Beth-Mein, by which you
go down from Paltathah ; but by which you go up from Ti-
berias.”
In Josephus), Βηθμαοῦς ἀπέχουσα Τιβεριάδος στάδια τέσσαρα;
“ Beth-Maus [Beth-Meon] is distant from Tiberias four fur-
longs.” The maps place it too remote from thence.
II. There was also a place not far from Tiberias, or Mag-
dala, whose name was S8™O TT WD Caphar Chittaia: which
we may guess at, from this story :—‘‘ R. Simeon! Ben La-
chish said thus, They whip a prince, that offends, in the
sessions of the three men. R. Judah Nasi hearing these
words was angry, and sent to apprehend him. But he fled
without Magdala: but some say, Without Caphar Chittaia.”
—Ziddim* (Josh. xix. 35) is Caphar Chittaia. Zer is neigh-
bour to it.”
CHAP. LXXIX.!
The country of Gennesaret.
Josepuus thus describes it: “ By™ the lake Gennesar, is a
country extended, of the same name, of a wonderful nature
and pleasantness. For such is the fruitfulness of it, that it
denies no plant,” &e. “The temper of the air suits itself with
different fruits: so that here grow nuts, a more winter fruit ;
there palms, which are nourished with heat; and near them
figs and olives, which require a more moderate air,” ὅζο.
The Talmudists speak like things of the fertility and plea-
sure of this place.
“The Rabbins say, Why is it called Gennesar? Because of
the gardens of princes (Ὡ 533). Those are the great men
who have gardens in that place. And it was of the lot of
Nephthali” (they are the words of the author of Aruch), “as
it is said, ‘And a thousand princes were of Nephthali.’ ”
The fruits of Gennesaret are mentioned as being of great
fame. ““ Wherefore (say they°) are there not of the fruits of
Gennesaret at Jerusalem? The reason is, that they who came
to the feasts should not say, We had not come but to eat the
fruits of Gennesaret.”
h In his own life, p. 629. [c. 12.] m Joseph. de Bell. lib. iii. cap. 35.
i Hieros. Horaioth, fol. 47. 1. [Hudson, p.1155. 1. 4.1 [ili. το. 8.]
k Id. Megill. fol. 70. 1. ἢ Aruch in 4033.
1 Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. Ὁ. 227. © Bab. Pesach. fol. 8. 2.
150 Chorographical century.
And elsewhere’, where it is disputed, what is the more
noble part of food, something seasoned with salt, or a morsel,
and it is concluded, that that which is seasoned is to be
preferred, and that thanks are to be given upon it; the men-
tion of the fruits of Gennesaret is brought in, M7 ἸΏ ὩΣ
which are preferred also before a morsel.
Hereupon there is mention of the ‘ Tent of Gennesaret',’
DII2 NID: that is, as the Gloss speaks, “‘ When Genosar,
which is also called Chinnereth, abounded with noble gardens,
they made certain shady bowers, or small tents, for that time,
wherein they gathered the fruits.”
The" length of this most fruitful soil*, lying along the sea-
shore, was but thirty furlongs, and the breadth twenty.
SION ma 12 wy ΝΎ ΘΟ ap oyna Ὁ Ἢ «And
expositors say (they are the words of the Aruchy), that
there is a place near to Tiberias, in which are gardens and
paradises.” Let that be noted, ‘ There is a place near to
Tiberias.’
CHAP. Dx
Capernauin.
From the things last spoken, we gather no trifling conjecture
concerning the situation of the town of Capernaum.
Josephus relates that the country of Gennesar, which we
have described, was watered Πηγῇξ γονιμωτάτῃ, Καφαρναοὺμ
αὐτὴν οἱ ἐπιχώριοι καλοῦσι" “ with a spring of excellent water ;
the people thereabouts call it Capernaum.” From that either
the city hath its name, or rather that hath its name from the
city; and the city from the pleasantness of the place. The
evangelists, compared together, do make it clear, that this
city was seated in the land of Gennesaret. For when it is
said by Matthew and Mark, that Christ, sailing over from
the desert of Bethsaida, arrived at the country of Gennesaret,
Matt. xiv. 34, Mark vi. 53, it is manifest from John that he
arrived at Capernaum, John vi. 22, 24,25. When, therefore,
that most pleasant country lay near Tiberias, and that Caper-
S Id. Beracoth, fol. 44.1. x Joseph. in the place before.
t Maasaroth, cap. 3. hal. 7. y Aruch in the place before.
u English folio edit, vol. i. p. 72. Z De Bello, lib. 111. cap. 35.
History of Tiberias. 157
naum was in that country.—we must necessarily suppose that
it was not very remote from Tiberias.
It was παραθαλασσία, ἐν ὁρίοις Ζαβουλὼν καὶ Νεφθαλεὶμ,
‘“‘upon the sea-coasts, in the borders of Zabulon and Neph-
thali,” Matt. iv. 13 :—not that it was the bounds of each, but
because it was within the borders of Zabulon and Nephthali,
they being put in opposition to the other parts of Galilee.
So Μεθόρια Τύρου καὶ Σιδῶνος, “the borders of Tyre and
Sidon,” Mark vii. 24, denote not that very centre where the
territories of Tyre are parted from those of Sidon; but the
“bounds of Tyre and Sidon,” as distinguished from the
bounds of Galilee. Nevertheless, neither was this city far
distant from the very limits, where the bounds of Zabulon
and Nephthali did touch upon one another,—namely, near
the south coast of the sea of Gennesaret, which we observed
before.
We suppose Capernaum seated between Tiberias and Ta-
richee. Whether Κεφαρνώμη, Cepharnome, in Josephus’, be
the same with this, we do inquire.
CHAP. LXXXI..
Some history of Tiberias. The Jerusalem Talmud was written
there: and when.
Tiserras> was built by Herod the tetrarch in honour
of Tiberius: and that in a common burying-place, or in a
place where many sepulchres had been. Hence it was that
the founder was fain to use all manner of persuasion, entice-
ments, and liberality, to invite inhabitants. The very de-
lightful situation of the place seemed to put him on to wrestle
with such a difficulty and inconvenience, rather than not to
enjoy so pleasant a soil and seat. For on this side, the sea
washing upon it,—on that side, within a little way, Jordan
gliding by it,—on the other side, the hot baths of Chammath,
—and on another, the most fruitful country Gennesaret ad-
jacent,—did every way begird this city, when it was built¢,
with pleasure and delight.
It did every day increase in splendour, and became at last
the chief city not only of Galilee but of the whole land of
a Jn his own life, p. 654. [¢. 72.] [Hudson, p. 795. 1. 26.] [xviii. 2. 3.]
> Joseph. Antigq. lib. xviii. cap. 3. © Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 228.
158 Chorographical century.
Israel. It obtained this honour, by reason of the university
translated thither by Rabbi Judah, and there continued for
many ages. It was ennobled by thirteen synagogues: among
which PAINT ΡΤ» NNW 2 “thee ancient Serongian
synagogue was one.” It was famous also for the Sanhedrim
sitting there ; for the Talmudic Misna, perhaps, collected here
by R. Judah; and for the Jerusalem Talmud‘, written there
for certain. That very volume does openly speak the place
where it wag published: in which the words S37 here, and
NIN hither, do most plainly design Tiberias, almost in infi-
nite places. But there is a greater controversy about the time:
it is agreed upon, by very many learned men, that this Tal-
mud was written about the year of Christ 230: which I do
indeed wonder at, when t!e mention of the emperor Diocle-
tian, unless 1 am very much mistaken, does occur in it. Let
us note the places :—
somss spon D1 rbot bp ἽΣ “ When the king
Docletinus came hither [to Tiberias], they saw R. Chaija Bar
Abba climbing a sepulchre to see him.” This story is repeated
in Nazirh, and he is there called pirdon Doclinus, by an
error, as it seems, of the copiers.
WY Nw AN myn prot ““ Dicletinus gathered
the rivers together, and made the sea of Apamia.” And
this story is recited in Chetubothk, and there he is called
pussy pvt Docletianus.
pom! art Sou ab oe ΟΥ ΡΥ « Docletinus
had WITW AM most fine gold, even to the weight of a Gor-
dian penny.”
7" yan mma 39 duswdprt «When Docletianus
came thither, he came with a hundred and twenty myriads.”
cw ate "at Sy ΠΣ ΠΡ sain mbt «The
boys of R. Judah, the prince, bruised Diclot, the keeper of
hogs, with blows. That king at length escaped, and coming
to Paneas, sent for the Rabbins, &c. He said to them, There-
fore, because your Creator worketh miracles for you, you
4 Bab. Berac. fol. 30. 2 1 Kilaim, fol. 32. 3.
€ Hieros. Kilaim, fol. τὸ 3: k Chetubh. fol. 35. 2.
£ English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 73. 1 Joma, fol. 41. 4.
& Beracoth, fol. 6. τ. m Shevuoth, fol. 34. 4.
h Naz. fol. 56. 1 n Trumoth, fol. 46. 2. 3.
History of Tiberias. 159
contemn my government. IA LVN ΟΡ am pale:
(72 sib sobn ΟΝ ΟῚ To whom they said, We con-
temned Diclot the hog-herd; we contemned not Diocletianus
the king.” Hence arose a suspicion among some learned
men, that this was not to be understood of Diocletian the
emperor, but of some little king, I know not whom, of a very
beggarly original: of which opinion I also was some time,
until at last 1 met with something that put the thing past
all doubt.
That you find in Avodah Zarah®. There inquiry is made
by one, WW VET AP AS “ What of the mart of Tsur?’
—There is this inscription there, son passnbpyt RIS
saan cms ΟΡ o> set oo as mw
:pran “I Diocletianus, the king, built this mart of Tsur [or
Tyre], to the fortune of my brother Herculius, in eighty
days.” The very sound persuades to render pisos Hercu-
hus, and the agreeableness of the Roman history, from which
every one knows how near a kin there was between Diocle-
tian and Maximian Herculius.
KusebiusP mentions the travelling of Diocletian through
Palestine ; and all the Roman historians speak of his sordid
and mean birth; which agree very well with the things that
are related by the Talmudists.
These are all the places, unless [am much mistaken, where
this name occurs in this Talmud, one only excepted, which I
have reserved for this place, that, after we have discovered,
by these quotations, that this was Diocletian the emperor,
some years after him might be computed. That place is in
Sheviith : Ὁ sy Pye Disp" «ς Dioeletianus
afflicted the men of Paneas: they said therefore to him, We
will depart hence: but ΓΞ a certain sophist said to
him, Either they will not depart; or, if they do, they will
return again: but if you would have an experiment of it, let
two young goats be brought hither, and let them be sent to
some place afar off, and they will at last come back to their
place. He did so: for the goats were brought, whose horns
he gilded, and sent them into Africa: and they, after thirty
ο Avod. Zar. fol. 39. 4. P Of the life of Constant. lib.i. cap. 13.
4 Shev. fol. 38. 4.
160 Chorographical century.
years, returned to their own place.” Consider, that thirty
years passed from this action of Diocletian, which if you com-
pute even from his first year, and suppose that this story was
writ in the last year of those thirty, you come as far as the
ninth or tenth year of Constantine.
Mention also of king Sapor occurs, if I do not fail of the
true reading. sp. yba yoda ὝΩΣ nn Nm “A
serpent’, under Sapor the king, devoured camels.” Yea, I
have I know not what suspicion, that sb ΠΡ ΡΟΝΙΡ ον, “ Tuli-
anus the king,” of whom there is mention in that very same
place, does denote Julianus the emperor. ‘* When Lulianus
the king (say they) came thither, a hundred and twenty
myriads accompanied him.” But enough of this.
There are some who believe the holy Bible was pointed
by the wise men of Tiberias. 1 do not wonder at the impu-
dence of the Jews, who invented the story; but I wonder at
the credulity of Christians, who applaud it. Recollect, I
beseech you, the names of the Rabbins of Tiberias, from the
first situation of the universityS there, to the time that it
expired ; and what at length do you find, but a kind of men
mad with Pharisaism, bewitching with traditions and be-
witched ; blind, guileful, doting; they must pardon me, if I
say magical and monstrous? Men, how unfit, how unable,
how foolish, for the undertakingt so divine a work! Read
over the Jerusalem Talmud, and see there how R. Judah, R.
Chaninah, R. Judan, R. Hoshaia, R. Chaija Rubba, R. Chaija
Bar Ba, R. Jochanan, R. Jonathan, and the rest of the grand
doctors among the Rabbins of Tiberias, behave themselves !
how earnestly they do nothing! how childishly they handle
serious matters! how much of sophistry, froth, poison, smoke,
nothing at all, there is in their disputes! And if you ean
believe the Bible was pointed in such a school, believe also all
that the Talmudists write. The pointing of the Bible savours
of the work of the Holy Spirit, not the work of lost, blinded,
besotted, men.
R. Judah, who first removed the university to Tiberias, sat
also in Zippor for many years, and there died: so that in
both places were very famous schools. He composed and
¥ Nedarim, fol. 37. 4. t English folio edition, vol. ii.
5. Leusden’s edition, vol.i. p. 229. Ρ. 74:4
Tsippor. 161
digested the Mishnaioth into one volume. ‘“ For when he
saw the captivity was prolonged” (they are the words of
Tsemach David, translated by Vorstius), “and the scholars
to become faint-hearted, and the strength of wisdom and the
cabala to fail, and the oral law to be much diminished,—he
gathered and scraped up together all the decrees, statutes,
and sayings of the wise men; of which he wrote every one
apart, which the house of the Sanhedrim had taught, ὅσο.
And he disposed it into six classes; which are Zeraim, Moed,
Nezikin, Nashim, Kedoshim, Tahoroth.” And a little after ;
“All the Israelites ratified the body of Mishnaioth, and
obliged themselves to it: and in it, during the life of Rabbi,
his two sons, Rabban Gamaliel and R. Simeon, employed
themselves, in the school of the land of Israel: and R. Chaija,
R. Hoshaia, R. Chaninah, and R. John, and their companions.
And in the school of Babylon, Rabh and Samuel exercised
themselves in it,” ὅσο.
Therefore it is worthy of examination, whence those differ-
ences should arise between the Jerusalem Misna, and the
Babylonian, — differences in words, without number, — in
things, in great number; which he that compares them will
meet with every where. You have a remarkable example in
the very entrance" of the Jerusalem Misna, where the story
of R. Tarphon’s danger among thieves is wanting, which is in
that of Babylon.
Whether R. Judah composed that system in Tiberias or
in Zippor, we are not solicitous to inquire: he sat in both,
and enriched both with famed schools; and Tiberias was the
more eminent. For “ox Swo nova ΝΥ nw
‘““The* university of Tiberias was greater than that of
Zippor.”
CHAP. LXXXII.
MS Tsippor.
Σεπφώρις μεγίστη ths Γαλιλαίας πόλις, ἐρυμνοτάτῳ δὲ ἐπεκτι-
σμένη χωρίῳ. ‘Tsippory is the greatest city of Galilee, and
built in a very strong place.”
ἃ Berac. cap. i. hal. 4 y Joseph. de Bell. lib. iii. cap. 3.
x Glossa in Bab. ἜΝ Ἢ fol.32. [Hudson, Ρ. 1120. 1. το.7 [11]. 2. 4.]
LIGHTFOOF, VOL, I. M
162 Chorographical century.
“ Kitron* (Judg. i. 29, 30) is Tsippor: and why is it called
“Mipz Tsippor? Because it is seated upon a mountain WDY5
as Tsippor, a bird.”
« Sixteen® miles on all sides from Tsippor was a land flow-
ing with milk and honey.”
This city is noted in Josephus for its warlike affairs; but
most noted in the Talmudists for the university fixed there,
and for the learning, which Rabbi Judah the Holy brought
hither, as we have said before. He? sat in this place seven-
teen years, and used most frequently to say this of himself,
“Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and Judah lived in
Tsippor seventeen years.”
Hee sat also in Beth-Shaarim, as also in Tiberias, but he
ended his life in Tsippor. There is this story of his death;
“ΠῚ 6 ἃ men of Tsippor said, Whosoever shall tell us that
Rabbi is dead, we will kill him. Bar Kaphra, having his
head veiled, looked upon them and said, ‘Holy men and
angels both took hold of the tables of the covenant, and the
hand of the angels prevailed, and they snatched away the
tables.’ They said to him, ‘Is Rabbi dead? He said, ‘ Ye
have said.’ They rent their garments after that manner,
that the voice of the renting came as far as Papath, that is,
the space of three miles. R. Nachman in the name of R. Mena
said, ‘ Miracles were done on that day.’ When all cities were
gathered together to lament him, and that on the eve of the
sabbath, the day did not waste, until every one was gone
home, had filled a bottle with water, and had lighted up a
sabbath-candle. The Bath Kol pronounced blessedness upon
those that lamented him, excepting only one; who knowing
himself excepted, threw himself headlong from the roof, and
died.
«RR. Judahe died in Tsippor, but his burial was in Beth-
Shaarim: dying, he gave in command to his son, ‘ When ye
carry me to my burial, do not lament me in the small cities
through whichf ye shall pass, but in the great,” ἕο. What
z Bab. Megill. fol. 6.1. 4 Hieros. in the place above.
@ Hieros. Biccurim, fol. 64. 2. € Gloss. in Bab. Sanhedr. fol.
Bab. Megill. in the place above. 47. τ:
Ὁ Hieros. Kilaim, fol. 32. 2. f English folio edition, vol. ii.
¢ Juchasin, fol. 2. 2. Ρ. 75
Tsippor. 163
say you to this, R. Benjamin? In you it is, ‘“‘ His® sepulchre
is in Tsippor in the mountain, as also the sepulchre of R.
Chaija, and Jonah the prophet,” &e. Do you make up the
controversy with your kinsmen now cited.
There were many synagogues in T’sippor. In the story but
now alleged, concerning the death and burial of R. Judah,
mention is made of eighteen synagogues that bewailed him ;
but whether all these were synagogues of Tsippor, or of other
places, it is questioned, not without cause.
PVNST SIDAT SAW “ Thei synagogue of Gophna was
certainly in Tsippor.” There was also J )1D¥2 baat enw
“Thek synagogue of Babylon in Tsippor.” There are also
many names of famous doctors there.
“ R. Honna! Rabba.”
“R. Abudina™ of Tsippor.”
“R. Bar Kaphra® in Tsippor.”
«Ἢ, Chaninah of Tsippor°.” The mention of whom is most
frequent above others.
AP controversy, risen at Tsippor, was determined before
«Ἢ, Simeon Ben Gamaliel, and R. Jose.”
Among many stories acted on this stage, which might be
produced, we shall offer these only :—
“ Anq inquisition was sometime made after the men of
Tsippor: they, therefore, that they might not be known,
clapped patches upon their noses; but at last they were
discovered,” &e.
“ One’, in the upper street of Tsippor, taking care about
the scripts of paper fixed to the door-posts, was punished a
thousand zuzees.” These words argue some persecution stirred
up in that city against the Jews.
“ As certain butcher of Tsippor sold the Jews flesh that
was forbidden,—namely, dead carcases, and that which was
torn. On one sabbath eve, after he had been drinking wine,
& R. Benjam. in Itinerar. [p. 52.] © Hieros. Maasar Sheni, fol. 55.4.
h Leusden’s edition, vol.ii. p.230. Shab. fol. 9. 2. Trumoth, fol. 45. 3,
i Hieros. Berac. fol. 6.1. Nazir, &c.
fol. 56. 1. P Bava Mezia, cap. 8. hal. 8.
k Jd. Berac. fol. 9. 1. Shab. fol. 4 Hieros. Jevamoth, fol. 15. 3.
8.1. Sotah, fol. 23. 3.
1 Id. Shekalim. fol. 46. 1. r Bab. Joma, fol. 11.1.
τὰ [d. Niddah, fol. 50. 2. 5. Hieros. Trumoth, fol. 45. 3.
n Bab. Sanhedr. fol. gr. 1.
M 2
164 Chorographical century.
going up into the roof, he fell down thence and died. The
dogs came and licked his blood. R. Chaninah being asked,
Whether they should drive away the dogs? ‘By no means,’ said
he, ‘for they eat of their own.’ ”
PVPLA NMI ΝΟΥΣ “Counsellorst and pagans in
Tsippor” are mentioned.
And also a5 by ΓΛ Ρ 2 “Ther sons of Ketzirah,
(or the harvest), of Tsippor.”
Tsippor was distant from Tiberias, as R. Benjamin tells us
in his Itinerary, MIND VD ΤΙ “ twenty miles.”
PVN Zipporin with } (Zain) is once writ in the ἰόντ
Talmud; one would suspect it to be this city: “Ἢ ἽΞ rw
ἜΝ] maypy* “When R. Akibah went to Zippor, they
came to him, and asked, Are the jugs of the Gentiles clean ?”
A story worthy of consideration ; if that PWD Zipporin de-
note ours, was R. Akibah in Tsippor? He died almost forty
years before the university was translated thither. But
schools haply were there before a university.
In the Talmud, the story of “ Ben Elamy P)1D.z' of Tsip-
por” (once it is written, PADLA2 “in Tsippor’’) is thrice re-
peated ; who, when the high priest, by reason of some un-
cleanness contracted on the day of expiation, could not per-
form the office of that day, went in, and officiated.
OH AP ΡΧΟΧΟΧΤΙΙΝ:
Some Places bordering upon Tsippor. TID Jeshanah.
MM) Metsarah. POW Shahin.
I. In the place, noted in the margin, discourse is had of
the legitimate mothers of the priests: among other things
it is said, that no further inquiry be made, “If his father be
enrolled az Sw mw SDAA in the cataloque of Jeshanah
of Tsippor.” The Gloss is, “There was a neighbour city to
Tsippor, whose name was Jeshanah ; and it was customary to
enrol them who were fit to judge,” &c. So that this ‘ Je-
shanah’ seems to be so near to Tsippor, that the records of
Tsippor were laid up there.
t Id. Horaioth, fol. 48. 3. y Joma, fol. 38.4. Megill. fol.72.1.
u Id. Nedarim, fol. 38. 4. % Horaioth, fol. 47. 1.
x Hieros. Avod. Zarah, fol. 41. 2. @ Kiddushin, chap. 4. hal. 5
Usha. 165
11. ‘“ Towns? fortified from the days of Joshua: Old Ket-
sarah, which belongs to Tsippor; and Chakrah, which be-
longs to Gush; Calab; and Jodapath the old [Jotopata] ;
and Gamalac,” &c. The Gloss is, ‘* Ketsarah is the name
of a little city without Tsippor.” Perhaps that which we
cited above relates to this, ΤῈΣ 7W iia, pase The sons
of Ketzirah (or the harvest), of Tsippor.”
III. “Sometime? a fire happened in the court of Josi Ben
Simai in Shihin, and the inhabitants of Ketsarah, which be-
longs to Tsippor, came down to quench it; but he permitted
them not, saying, ‘ Let the exactor exact his debt.’ Presently
a cloud gathered together above the fire; and rains fell, and
put it out. The sabbath being finished, he sent money to
every one of them.”
Josephus® mentions also Γαρεισίμης, Garisimes, distant
twenty furlongs from Tsippor.
In like manner, ᾿Ασαμὼν, τὸ μεσαίτατον Γαλιλαίας ὄρος, ὃ
κεῖται ἄντικρυς τῆς Σεπφώρεως" ““Αβαιηοῃΐ, a mountain in the
middle of Galilee, which lies over against Tsippor.”
CHAP LXXXIvee
wise Usha.
“Tuk Sanhedrim went OWS suns swe may
from Jabneh to Usha, and from Usha to Shepharaam.” ‘The
Gloss is, ““ Τὸ Jabneh in the days of Rabban Jochanan (Ben
Zaccai); to Usha in the days of Rabban Gamaliel: but they
went back from Usha to Jabneh: but in the days of Rabban
Simeon they returned.”
We do not apprehend the reason why Rabban Gamaliel
went thither; whatsoever it were, either some disturbance
raised by the Romans, or indignation that R. Eleazer Ben
Azariah should be president with him, or some other reason,
—certainly the abode there was but small, either Gamaliel
himself returning to Jabneh after some time, or R. Akibah, who
succeeded in his chair.
b Erachin, cap. 9. hal. 6. f Id. de Bell. lib. 1. cap. 37.
© English folio edit., vol.ii. p.76. [Hudson, p.1100.1. 35.] [ii. 18. 11.]
4 Hieros. Nedarim, fol. 38. & Leusden’s edition, vol. il. p. 221.
e Joseph. in his own Life, p. 653. h Bab. Rosh hashanah, f. 31. 2.
[σ᾽ τ Juchas, fol. 21. 2.
166 Chorographical century.
But after the war of Adrian, and the death of R. Akibah in
that war, when Judea was now in disturbance by the Romans,
Rabban Simeon, the son of Gamaliel, succeeding in the pre-
sidentship after Akibah, went with the Sanhedrim from Jafne
to Usha, nor was there ever after any return to Jafne.
The Talmudists' remember us of very many things trans-
acted at Usha. ‘“ When they intercalated the year in Usha,
the first day, R. Ismael, the son of R. Jochanan Ben Brucha,
stood forth, and said according to the words of R. Jochanan
Ben Nuri. Rabban Simeon Ben Gamaliel said, ‘ We were not
wont to do so in Jafne.’ On the second day, Ananias, the son
of Josi the Galilean, said according to the words of R. Akibah.
R. Simeon Ben Gamaliel said, ‘So we were wont to do in
Jafne.’” This story is repeated in Rosh hashanahk, and
Nedarim!.
“Inm Usha it was decreed that a man should nourish his
little children; that if a man make over his goods to his
children, he and his wife be maintained out of them,” &e.
It" was determined also in Usha concerning the burning
the Truma, in some doubtful cases: of which see the place
quoted.
But that we be not more tedious, let this story be for a
conclusion: ‘“The° wicked kingdom [of Rome] did sometime
decree a persecution against Israel: namely, that every one
preferring any to be an elder should be killed; and that
every one that was preferred should be killed; and that the
city in which any is preferred to eldership should be laid
waste; and that the borders within which any such promotion
is made, should be rooted out. What did Baba Ben Judah
do? He went out, and sat between two great mountains, and
between two great cities, and between two sabbath bounds,
DYI|WS MIN Pa between Usha and Shapharaam, and or-
dained five elders, namely, R. Meir, R. Judah, R. Simeon, R.
Josi, and R. Eliezer Ben Simeon. Rabh Oia added also
R. Nehemiah. When this came to be known to their enemies,
he said to the scholars, ‘ Fly, O my sons: they said to him,
‘Rabbi, what will you do? He said to them, ‘ Behold, I am
i Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 39. 2. See also Peah, fol. 15. 2.
k Rosh hash. fol. 58. 3. 59. 3. n Bab. Shabb. fol. 15. 2.
1 Nedar. fol. 4o. 1. 9 Id. Sanhedr. fol. 14. 1.
m Hieros. Chetubh. fol. 28. 4.
Arbel. Shezor. Tarnegola. 167
east before them as a stone which hath no movers.’ They
say, that they departed not thence, until they had fastened
three hundred iron darts into him, and had made him like a
sieve.”
CHAP. LXXXV.P
- Arbel. Shezor. aby sagan Tarnegola the Upper.
ἔΑρβηλα πόλις τῆς Γαλιλαίας. “ Arbeld a city of Galilee.”—
There is mention of it in Hos. x. 14. But there are authors
which do very differently interpret that place, viz. the
Chaldee paraphrast, R. Solomon, Kimchi: consult them.
Itt was between Zippor and Tiberias.
Hence Nittai the Arbelite, who was president with Josua
Ben Perahiah.
bay ny. Thet valley of Arbel is mentioned by the
Talmudists.
So also ΓΟ ΣΝ MIND “ The" Arbelite Bushel.”
“ Near* Zephath in Upper Galilee was a town named
Shezor IW, whence was R. Simeon Shezori: there he was
buried. There is the memory also of R. Ismael Shezorei, who
perhaps was his brother.”
In that scheme which we exhibited in the beginning of
this work, out of the Jerusalem Gemarists, delineating the
limits of the land under the second Temple, among other
names of places, you observe the mention of a place called
mio 75 ποῦν πνοὴν ΜΟΥ «The upper Tarne-
gola or Cock,” &c. I render it “ Geber, (or Gabara) the
upper, which is above Czsarea.” Why I render souoin
Tarnegola by Geber, those that are versed in the Talmudic
writings will easily perceive; for in them ‘a cock’ is indif-
ferently called in the Chaldee language susan Tarnegola,
and by the Rabbins 73} Geber. Nor is there an example
wanting of this our rendering. For the Targum of Jonathan,
in Num. xxxiii. 35, 36, renders Ezion-geber shan Ae)
Cerac Tarnegola, “The city of the Cock.” And he mentions
this very place which we are now upon, Num. xxxiv. 8;
P English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 77. s Avoth, cap. 1. hal. 6.
a Joseph. Antiq. lib. xil. cap. 18. t Hieros. Taanith, fol. 69. 2.
Ἐπ στὸ τῇ] u Hieros. Peah, fol. 20. 2.
r Juchas. fol. 65. 1. x Juchas. fol. 68. 1.
168 Chorographical century.
Pr) Ww shan “ Tarnegola at Czesarea.” And the
Targum of Jerusalem there reads PIO WT sbvovn ‘‘ 'Tor-
negola of Czesarion.”” Now that Ceesarea which they mean
is ‘Ceesarea Philippi, which is at the fountain of Jordan: and
that Gabara is called πον sSon “ Gabara the upper,”
for distinction’sY sake, from other cities of the same name.
Josephus calleth ‘“ Tiberias”, Sipphor, and Gabara,”’ the
three greatest cities of Galilee. He mentions also TaSapad
κώμην, the town Gabaroth®, and TaSapayavatovs, Gabara-
ganei>, which are reckoned with the Gadarenes and Tyrians
by. him.
PIO Pp ss4naaamty “Frome Gabara of Czesarea and down-
wards is as the land of Israel,” in respect of the Demat, or
tithing.
CHAP. LXXXVI.
The difference of some customs of the Galileans from
those of Judea.
Ir is not impertinently questioned, with what inhabitants
Galilee and Perea were first planted after the return out of
Babylon, when you scarce find any mention of them in the
Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, but of those only who in-
habited Judea and the land of Benjamin. But whosoever
they were, whether pure Israelites, or those that were more
mixed, or some of the ten tribes, it is certain those that
inhabited Galilee differed much from those that dwelt in
Judea, in certain rites, and not a little in the dialect of
their speech.
The Jewish pandects observe a various difference between
them: out of which we produce these few instances instead
of more :—
In the place noted4 in the margin, it is discoursed con-
cerning the form and manner of writing the donation of the
marriage dowry. ‘‘So and so (say they) the people of Jeru-
salem writ, and the Galileans writ as those of Jerusalem:
but the inhabitants of Judea something varied,” ὅθ. Where
Υ Leusden’s edit., vol. ii. p. 232. b Ibid. p. 628. [c. ro. v. 1. Ta-
2. In his own Life, p. 634. 640. Bapnvoi.}
[eaa5- 45. | ¢ Hieros. Demai, 22. 4.
a Ibid. p. 642. [c. 45.] 4 Hieros, Chetubh. fol. 29. 2.
Customs of the Galileans. 169
the Gemarists thus; “ The Galileans’ care was of reputation,
not® of money; the inhabitants of Judea, their care was of
money, not of reputation,” &e.
“Thef wise men say, In Judea they did servile works on
the Passover-eves, until noon; in Galilee, not at all.”
oman Soba mos ora monn ond “Nm “Thes
wise men say, That the Trumah taken generally is bound in
Judea, in Galilee is loosed. MIN ps bby we prw
~iwer For the Galileans know not the Trumah of the
Temple-chamber.” The sense of the tradition is this, When
any one pronounced a vow in general terms,—for example,
saying thus, ‘ Let this be to me as the Trumah,’ not naming
what kind of Trumah,—a Galilean, so speaking, was loosed
from his vow, because he, by reason of the distance of the
place (as the Gloss tells us), knew not the Trumah of the holy
treasury: but he that inhabited Judea, and spoke thus, was
bound by his vow.
And in the same text is added, TVW OW ΓΟ
PVOS babyy pony “If any vows generally by curses, he
is loosed in Judea; he is bound in Galilee, because the Gali-
leans do not know the curses of the priests.” Where the
Gloss is this; “ There were no priests among the Galileans:
therefore, when they cursed, they cursed to none but to God.”
And the Gemara of Jerusalem thus; ‘‘ Because they were
fastened to the curse of Achan, it is said, that they are
bound: but in Judea, because they are not fastened to the
curse of Achan, it is said that they are loosed.”
“ Rabbi Judah saith, In Judea they made inquiry con-
cerning the bridegroom and bride three days before the wed-
ding: but in Galilee they did not so. In Judea they al-
lowed the bridegroom and bride private company one hour
before the wedding; but they did not so in Galilee. It was a
custom in Judea that the married persons should have two
PRaAww friends, one of the family of the bridegroom, and
the other of the family of the bride: but it was not so in
Galilee. In Judea those friends slept in the same place
where the bridegroom and bride slept: but in Galilee it was
not so,” &c.
e English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 78. & Nedarim, cap. 2. hal. 3.
f Pesachin, cap. 4. hal. 5. h Tosaphta ad Chetubh. cap. 1.
170 Chorographical century.
CHAP. LXXXVII.
The dialect of the Galileans, differing from the Jewish.
᾿Αληθῶς καὶ σὺ ἐξ αὐτῶν εἶ: καὶ yap ἡ λαλία σου δῆλόν σε
ποιεῖ ** Surely thou also art one of them, for thy speech be-
wrayeth thee,” Matt. xxvi. 73. Let these passages, which are
delivered by the masters, be instead of a comment :—
“To! the men of Judea who were exact in their language,
their law is established in their hands. To the men of
Galilee, who were not exact in their language, their law is
not established in their hands.”—The Gloss is, “ They [the
men of Judea] were exact in their language: so that their
speech was pure, not corrupt.”
*“ To the men of Judea, who are exact about their lan-
guage, and appoint to themselves certain signs, their law is
established in their hands: to the men of Galilee, who are
not exact about their language, nor appoint to themselves
signs, their law is not established in their hands.” The
Gloss is; “‘They were exact about their language, namely,
in rendering the same words which they had heard from
their masters. And because they were taught orally, by
hearing after hearing, they appointed to themselves from
them sign after sign. And because they were exact about
their language, they knew how to appoint to themselves fit
signs that they might not forget.”
«The men of Judea learn from one master, and their law
is established in their hands: the Galileans learn not from
one master, and their law is not established in their hands.”
The Gloss writes, “ The Galileans heard one master in one
language, and another in another; and the diversity of the
language, or pronunciation, confounded them so that they
forgat.” And a little after,
““R. Abba said, If any ask the men of Judea, who are
exact about their language, JIN PUAN TR JN Pay
Whether they say ΩΡ Maabrin with yy (Ain), or PIAN
Maabrin with & (Aleph)? Whether they say Dy Acuzo
(with Ain), or WD Acuzo (with Aleph)? They* will answer,
There are some who pronounce it AN‘ (with Aleph), and
there are others who pronounce it } 13" (with Ain). There
i Bab. Erubhin. fol. 5. 5. k Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 232.
Dialect of the Galileans. 171
are some who say W)38; and there are others who say
Widy.”—And a little after ;
*“ A certain Galilean said, mad VON mera as They
answered him, O foolish Galilean, : rasypnd Tar ay
ἘΝ ΓΡΟ wes snes aan wand” The sense is,
When the Galilean asked, wa “ON “Whose is WON!
_Immar, ‘this lamb?” he pronounced the first letter in the
word WO Zmmar, so confusedly and uncertainly, that the
hearers knew not whether he meant WOM Chamar,—that is,
an ‘ass;? or WM Chamar, ‘wine; or WOY Amar, ‘wool;’ or
ΣΝ Limmar, ‘a lamb.’
«“ A Galilean woman when she should have said to her
neighbour, wb Poon "SKM Come, ae I will feed you
with milk” [or some fat thing] : “said, sad ponn snnby
My neighbour, a lion shall eat you.” The Gloss is, “ She distin-
guished not, but confounded the letters: for when she should
say, snanbdw Shelubti, with 3 (Beth), which signifies @ neegh-
bour, she said ΤΙΣ Shelucti, with 3 (Caph) (a barbarous
word). For snbry poms ἜΝ, Tat Doclic Chalaba,
‘Come, and I will feed you with milk.—she said, sab pon,
Toclic Labe, words that imply a curse; as much as to say,
Let a lion devour thee.”
“ A certain woman said before the judge, san oD ΤΣ
xb mboy ob nw tot mn nn po spam 9 mn
Ν᾽ PYTD Wr.” That which she intended to say was
this, Δεσπότα κύριε, “ My Lord, I had a picture, which they
stole; and it was so great, that if you had been placed in it,
your feet would not have touched the ground.” But she so
spoiled the business with her pronouncing, that, as the Glos-
ser interprets it, her words had this sense, “ Sir, slave, I had
a beam; and they stole thee away; and it was so great, that
if they had hung thee on it, thy feet would not have touched
the ground.”
Among other things, you see, that in this Galilean dia-
lect the pronunciation of the gutturals is very much con-
founded; which however the Jews correct in the words al-
leged, yet it was not unusual among them, so that “ the
mystical doctors distinguished not between Cheth and He.”
They are the words of the Jerusalem Talmudists ™:—and
1 English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 79. m ffieros. Schab. fol. 9. 2.
172 Chorographical century.
these also are the words of those of Babylon™; “ The schools
of R. Eleazar Ben Jacob pronounced Aleph Ain, and Ain
Aleph.”
We observed before’ one example of such confusion of
letters, when one teaching thus, PVYWID PR OWS. WH “ The
waters of the marshes are not to be reckoned among those
waters” (that make unclean), he meant to have it understood
of DL ND the water of eggs: but he deceived his hearers by
an uncertain pronunciation.
You have another place noted in the marginp: ‘“ Rabh
said, ae (with Ain): Samuel said, TTS (with Aleph).
Rabh said, ΕΣ (with Aleph): Samuel said, pay (with
Ain). Rabh said 1° (with Aleph): Samuel said, 1"
(with Ain).”
If you read the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch, you
will find so frequent a changing of the gutturals, that you
could not easily get a more ready key of that language than
by observing that variation.
CHAP. LXXXVIII.
bby Gilgal, in Deut. xi. 30: what that place was.
Tuar which is said by Moses, that “ Gerizim and bal were
baba ban over-against Gilgal,” Deut. xi. 30, is so obscure,
that it is rendered into contrary significations by interpreters,
Some take it in that sense, as if it were by A? “TVID near
to Gilgal: some baba 2) (2) far off from Gilgal: the
Targumists read, “ before Gilgal :” while, as I think, they
do not touch the difficulty; which lies not so much in the
signification of the word ‘7772 Mu/, as in the ambiguity of the
word ‘P72 Gilgal. These do all seem to understand that
Gilgal which the people of Israel took the first night after
their passage over Jordan, Josh. iv. 19; which, as Josephus
relates, was distant only fifty furlongs from Jordans; but
which the Gemarists guess to be fifty miles and more. Fort
“they say, the journey of that day was more than sixty
miles, to wit, from Jordan to Gilgal.” And this they say,
n Bab. Berac. fol. 32. 1. τ R. Sol. in Deut. xi.
© Chap. Ixiii. s Jos. Antiq. lib. v. cap. 1. [v.
P Hieros. Avod. Zar. fol. 39.3. 4. I-]
4 Bab. Sotah, fol. 33. 2. τ Kimch. in Josh. iv.
Gilgal. 173
that they may fix Gilgal near Gerizim and Ebal; where they
think the people encamped the first night after their entrance
into the land of Canaan, from those words of Moses, Deut.
xxvil. 2, “ in the day, wherein thou shalt pass over Jordan,
thou shalt set thee up great stones, and shalt plaster them
with plaster,” ὅθ. Now those stones, say they, are set up
in Gerizim and Ebal. Hence is that of the Gemarists", “The
Lord said, I said, When ye shall pass Jordan, ye shall set up
stones ; but* you have spread yourselves as far as sixty miles.”
Andy, “ Gerizim and Ebal were sixty miles distant from
Jordan.”
But certainly by that Gilgal, of which Mosestin those words
speaks, “ Are not Gerizim and Ebal baba ban over-against
Gilgal 2” is to be understood some other than that which
Joshua named by that name, Josh. v.g. For when Moses
spoke those words, the name of that Gilgal, near Jericho, was
not at all: nor can that which is spoke in the book of Joshua
concerning babab DMA the nations of Gilgal, Josh. xii. 23, be
applied to that Gilgal, when it had obtained that name.
Therefore, in both places, by Gilgal seems tc be understood
Galilee ; and that as well from the nearness of the words,—for
bab; Gilgal, and baba Galil, are of the same root and ety-
mology,—as from the very sense of the places. For when, in
Joshua, some kings of certain particular cities in Galilee—
Kedesh, Jokneam, Dor, &e.—are reckoned up, the king of
the nations of Gilgal, or Galilee”, is also added, who ruled
over many cities and countries in Galilee.
So also the words of Moses may very well be rendered in
the like sense, ‘ Are not those mountains, Gerizim and Ebal,
beyond Jordan, over-against Gilgal, or Galilee?
These things following strengthen our conjecture :—I. The
version of the LX-X, who render baba’ DNA The nations of
Galgal, by Tet τῆς Γαλιλαίας, Get of Galilee. 11. The com-
paring Josephus with the book of the Maccabees, in the
Lay) of Demetrius. “ He pitched his tent (saith Josephus 4)
ἐν ᾿Αρβήλοις, πόλει τῆς Γαλιλαίας, ‘in Arbel, a city of Galilee ;’”
u Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 44.1. in the y Bab. Sotah, fol. 36. 1.
Gloss. 2 Leusden’ s edition, vol. il. p. 234.
x English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 80. a [Antiq. xii. 11. 1. |
174 Chorographical century.
but, 1 Mae. ix. 2, ᾿Ἑπορεύθησαν ὁδὸν τὴν εἰς Γάλγαλα, καὶ παρε-
νέβαλον ἐπὶ Μεσαλὼθ τὴν ἐν ᾿Αρβήλοις" “ They went forth the
way that leadeth to Galgala, and pitched their tents before
Mesaloth, which is in Arbel.” In one Arbel is in Galgala or
Gilgal, in the other it is in Galilee.
OHAP.. LXXXIX.
Divers towns called by the name of Vik Tyre.
Besrpes Tyre, the noble mart of Pheenicia, we meet with
various places of the same name, both in the Talmudists and
in Josephus.
In» the place noted in the margin, they mention ΝΣ, one
Tyre, in the very borders of the land, which was bound to pay
tithes; and another, in like manner in the borders, which was
not bound: we shall hereafter produce their words. And in
these examples which follow, and in very many others, which
might be produced,—they leave it undecided, whether the
discourse is of Tyre of Phcenicia, or of some other place of
that name.
“ Jacob Navoriensis travelled to Tyre cr) and there
taught some things, for which R. Chaggai would have him
beaten ¢.”
“ R. Mena went to Tyre cd): whom R. Chaija Bar Ba
found there ; and going forward, he told R. Jochanan those
things which he had taught 4.”
«ἢ, Issa went to Tyre (WYS>), and saw them drinking
wine ¢,” &e.
Josephus thus writes of Hyreanus, the brother of Simon
the high priest :—“ He built a strong place between Arabia
and Judea beyond Jordanf: καὶ τοιοῦτον ἀπεργασάμενος τόπον
Τύρον ὠνόμασεν" and called it Tyre.”
The same author, of John Ben Levi thus: When he had
endeavoured to retain the Giscalites, now attempting to shake
off the Roman yoke, it was to no purpose: Tas yap πέριξ
ἔθνη, Γαδαρηνοὶ, καὶ Γαβαραγανοῖοι, καὶ -Τύριοι: “ for the bor-
dering people, the Gadarenes, the Gabaraganeans, and the
b Hieros. Demai, fol. 22. 4. f Jos. Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 5. [xil.
¢ Id. Kiddushin, fol. 64. 4. 4. TT
ἃ Id. Avod. Zar. fol. 42. 1. g Jos. in his own Life. [c. 10.]
e Ibid. fol. 44. 2.
Cana. 175
Tyrians, having got together considerable forces, invade
Giseala.” You can scarcely suppose that these Tyrians came
out of Tyre of Phoenicia, but from some other place of the
same name.
Upon that reason that very many towns in the land of
Israel were called by the name of Rama, namely, because
they were seated in some igh place; by the same reason
very many are called by the name of ΝΣ Zyre, because they
were built in a rocky place.
CHAP. XC.h
Cana.
We have little to certify as to the situation of this place:
only we learn this of Josephus concerning Cana, that it was
such a distance from Tiberias, as he could measure with his
army in one night. For when word was brought him by
letters, that the enemy Justus had endeavoured to draw
away the Tiberians from their fidelity towards him, “ I was
then (saith he‘) in a town of Galilee, called Cana: taking,
therefore, with me two hundred soldiers, I travelled the whole
night, having despatched a messenger before, to tell the Ti-
berians of my coming: and, in the morning, when I ap-
proached the city, the people came out to meet me,” σα.
He makes mention, also, of Cana, in the same book of his
own Life, in these words‘; “ Sylla, king Agrippa’s general,
encamping five furlongs from Julias, blocked up the ways
with guards, Τῇ τε εἰς Kava ἀγούσῃ, καὶ τῇ εἰς Γάμαλα τὸ φρου-
ρίον, both that which leads to Cana, and that which leads to
the castle Gamala.” But now, when Julias and Gamala, with-
out all doubt, were beyond Jordan, it may be inquired whe-
ther that Cana were not also on that side. But those things
that follow seem to deny this: for he blocked up the ways,
ὑπὲρ τοῦ Tas Tapa τῶν Γαλιλαίων ὠφελείας τοῖς ἐνοίκοις ἀποκλεί-
ew, “ that by this means he might shut out all supplies that
might come from the Galileans.” Mark that, that might come
from the Galileans; that is, from Cana, and other places of
Galilee about Cana.
That Julias which Sylla received was Julias Betharamph-
h English folio edit., vol.ii. p.81. [ς. 16, 17.]
i Joseph. in his own Life, p. 631. k Tbid. p. 653. [e. 71.}
176 Chorographical century.
tha (of which afterward), which was seated on the further
bank of Jordan, there where it is now ready to flow into the
sea of Gennesaret. ‘Therefore, Cana seems, on the contrary,
to lie on this side Jordan; how far removed from it we say
not, but we guess not far; and it was distant such a space
from Tiberias as the whole length of the sea of Gennesaret
doth contain.
CHAP. XCL
Perea. YIVIT VY Beyond Jordan.
« Tur length! of Perea was from Macherus to Pella: the
breadth from Philadelphia to Jordan.”
« ΠῚ 6 πὶ mountainous part of it was mount Maevar, and
Gedor,” &e. “The plain of it was Heshbon, with all its
cities, which are in the plain, Dibon, and Bamoth-Baal, and
Beth-Baal-Meon®,” &c. “ The valley of it is Beth-Haran,
and Beth-Nimrah, and Succoth,” &e.
The mention of the mountains of Macvar occurs in that
hyperbolical tradition of R. Eleazar Ben Diglai, saying °,
« The goats WDD “WIA in the mountains of Macvar sneezed
at the smell of the perfume of the incense in the Temple.”
The word Macherus is derived from \W3%3 Macvar.
The whole country, indeed, which was beyond Jordan,
was called Perea: but it was so divided, that the southern
part of it was particularly called Perea; the other part was
called Batanea, Auranitis, Trachonitis. So it is called
by JosephusP, because, by the donation of Augustus, ἥτε
Περαία, καὶ Γαλιλαία, ““ Perea and Galilee came into the pos-
session of Herod Antipas: and Baravata τε, καὶ Τράχων, Kat
Αὐρανίτις, Batanea, and Trachon, and Auranitis, into that of
Philip.”
wa Bashan passed into Batanea, according to the Syriac
idiom, that changeth Ὁ) (Shin) into M (Thau): PIMA Batanin,
in the Samaritan interpreters } 22 Matanin, in the Targum-
ists, by the alternate use of Ὁ (Mem) and 3 (Beth), which is
not unusual with them.
Golan was the chief city of this country, Josh. xx. 8.
1 Joseph. de Bell. lib. iii. cap. 4. © Tamid, cap. 3. hal.8. Bab. Joma,
fill. 3. 3.] fol. 39. 2.
m Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 38. 4. Ρ Jos. de Bell. lib. ii. cap. 9. [1].
n Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 235. 6. 3-]
Adam and Zaretan. Τὺ
Whence is Gaulonitis, and that Γαυλονιτικὴ ἄνω and κάτω 4,
“ Upper and Nether Gaulonitis.”
Τράχων, Trachon. In the Jews we read’, ONNDO7 SNDW
sad « Trachon, which is bounded at Bozra.” Not Boz-
rah of Edom, Isa. Ixiii. 1 ; nor Bezer of the Reubenites, Josh.
xx. 8; but another, to wit, Bosorra, or Bosor, in the land of
Gilead. Concerning’ which, see Josephus', and the First
Book of Maccabees, v. 26.
While we speak of the difference between Bezer and Boz-
rah, we cannot pass by a simple example of this thing, pro-
pounded by the Babylonian Talmudists. “ The prince of
Rome” [viz. Samael, the angel of death, as the Gloss tells
us| “ did formerly commit a threefold error; as it is written,
‘Who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah 2?’
In this matter he errs, because there is no refuge but in Be-
zer, and he betook himself to Bozrah,” &ce.
Baravaia ὡρίζετο τῇ Tpaxwvirid.; “ Batanea is bounded by
Trachonitis *.”
Auranitis.—Josephus ¥ sometimes calls it ‘ Abranitis.’—
“ Cesar (saith he) gave to Herod [the Great] Τράχωνα, καὶ
Βαταναίαν, καὶ ABpavirw: Trachon, and Batanea, and Abra-
nitis;” and that, that he should restrain and subdue the rob-
bers, who most miserably vexed those countries, &c.
CHAP. <Cu:
Adam and Zareéan, Josh. iii.
I suspecr a double error in some maps, while they place
these two towns in Perea; much more, while they place them
at so little a distance.
We do not deny, indeed, that the city Adam was in Pe-
rea; but Zaretan was not so. Of Adam is mention, Josh. iii.
16 ; where discourse is had of the cutting-off, or cutting in
two, the waters of Jordan, that they might afford a passage
to Israel; DIN] TN TMI TTS Ἢ ὙὩ The waters rose
up upon a heap afar off in Adam. For the textual reading
4 See Jos. in the place above, ἃ Bab. Maccoth, fol. 12. 1.
cap. 13. [ii. Ὁ. T.] x Jos. Antiq. lib. xvii. cap. 2.
τ Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 36. 3. [εν 7: τοῦ
5. English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 82. y Id. ibid. lib. xv. cap. 13. [xv.
t Joseph. Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 12. 10. 1.]
[xii. 8. 21]
LIGHTFOOT, VOL. 1, N
178 Chorographical century.
DIN! “Jn Adam,” the marginal hath DOIN’ “ From Adam.”
You may very fitly apply both readings.
Adam was the centre, where the waters parted: here was
the station of the ark of the covenant, now ready to enter
Jordan. Hence the Psalmist, DIN2 DW Onis The taber-
nacle which he had fixed in Adan, “Psalm Ixxviii. 60. There-
fore, the textual reading OTSA “ iz Adam,” holds well; be-
cause there was the centre of the cutting in two of the waters:
but the marginal reading DIN’ “ from Adam,” does more-
over add light, because the gathering those waters together
on a heap was far above it.
“R. Jochanan saith y, Adam is a city, and Zaretan is a city,
and they are distant from one another twelve miles.” From
Adam to Zaretan, were the waters dried up; from Zaretan
and upwards, they stood on a heap. Adam was in Perea,
over-against Jericho; Zaretan was in the land of Manasseh
on this side Jordan. It is called Zarthanah, 1 Kings iv. 12,
and is defined to be near Beth-shean, which was the furthest
bounds of the land of Manasseh northward. The brazen
vessels of the Temple are said to be cast in the plain of Jor-
dan, in the clay ground between Zaretan (on this side Jordan)
and Succoth (beyond it), 1 Kings vil. 45. Therefore, the words
cited in Joshua, {2 TE WW ὙΠ ΝΞ NID pry
far off from Adam, which is beside Zaretan, are so to be
understood, as not so much to denote the nearness of Adam
and Zaretan, as to intimate that the heaping up of the waters
was by Zaretan. They are to be rendered in this sense, “ And
the waters that came down from above stood together; they
rose up into one heap, in a very long distance from the city
Adam,” namely, to that distance, which is by Zaretan.
Adam and Zaretan, on this and the other side, were both
something removed from Jordan: but they are named in that
story, because there the discourse is of the time, when Jordan
contained not itself within its own channel, but had overflown
its banks.
CHAP. XCIII.z
Julias-Bethsaida.
Tuere were two Juliases, both in Perea, one built by
y Mlieros. Sotah, fol. 21. 4. English folio edit., vol. i. p. 82.
Julias-Bethsaida. 179
5
Herod, called before ‘ Betharamphtha :’ of which Josephus ;
Βηθαραμφθᾷᾶ δὲ, πόλις ἢν Kal αὕτη, τείχει περιλαβὼν, ᾿Ιουλιάδα
ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος ἀγορεύει τῆς γυναικός. “ At® Betha-
ramphtha, which before was the city’s name, Herod com-
passed Julias with a wall, calling it by the name of the
empress.” The other built by Philip, heretofore called Beth-
saida, of which the same author writes thus: κώμην δὲ
᾿Βηθσαϊδὰν, πρὸς λίμνῃ τῇ ΓΕεννησαρίτιδι, πόλεως παρασχὼν
ἀξίωμα, πλήθει τε οἰκητόρων καὶ τῇ ἄλλῃ δυνάμει, ᾿Ιουλίᾳ θυ-
γατρὶ τῇ Καίσαρος ὁμώνυμον ἐκάλεσεν" “ Philip >, having raised
the town Bethsaida on the lake of Gennesaret to the honour
of a city, both in respect of the number of the inhabitants,
and other strength, gave it the same name with Julia, the
emperor's daughter.”
The‘¢ maps have one Julias only: not amiss, because they
substitute the name of Bethsaida for the other :—but they
do not well agree about the situation of both. Julias-Be-
tharamphtha was seated at the very influx of Jordan into the
lake of Gennesaret. For thus Josephus?; ‘ Jordan, having
measured a hundred furlongs more from the lake Samocho-
nitis, μετὰ πόλιν ᾿Ιουλιάδα διεκτέμνει τὴν Γεννησὰρ μέσην, after
the city Julias, cuts the lake of Gennesar in the middle.” Do
not these words argue that Jordan, being now ready to enter
into the lake, did first glide by Julias? To which those
things which are said elsewhere by the same author do
agree. “ Sylla (saith he 5) encamped five furlongs from Julias,
and stopped up the ways ;—namely, that which led to Cana,
and that which led to the castle Gamala. But I, when I un-
derstood this, sent two thousand armed men, under Jeremias
their captain ; of δὴ καὶ χάρακα θέντες ἀπὸ σταδίου τῆς ᾿Ιουλιάδος
πλησίον τοῦ Ἰορδάνου ποταμοῦ: and they having encamped a
furlong from Julias near the river Jordan,” ὅθ. Note that,
when they were distant from Julias a furlong only, they are
but a little way off of Jordan. The maps place it more re-
mote from the influx of Jordan into the lake of Gennesaret
than these words will bear.
a Joseph. Antigq. lib. xviii. cap. 3. ἃ De Bell. lib. in. cap. 35. [iii.
[ Hudson, p. 794.| [xvili. 2. 1.] IO. 7
Ὁ [bid. e Id. in his own Life. [c. 71. 72.]
ς Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 236.
n2
“"
180 Chorographical century.
Julias-Bethsaida was not seated in Galilee, as it is in the
maps, but beyond the sea of Galilee in Perea. This we say
upon the eredit of Josephus: ‘ Philip (saith he‘) built Cze-
sarea in Paneas, καὶ ἐν τῇ κάτω Γαυλανιτικῇ ᾿Ιουλιάδα [mark
that]: and Julias [which before-time was Bethsaida]} in Ne-
ther Gaulonitis.”. But now, there is nobody but knows that
Gaulonitis was in Perea. This certainly is that Julias which
Pliny’ placeth eastward of the lake of Gennesaret (for the
other Julias was scarcely near the sea at all); and that Julias
of which Josephus speaks, when he saith», “ that a certain
mountainous country beyond Jordan runs out from Julias to
Somorrha.”
CHAP. ΧΟ:
Gamala. Chorazin.
Turse things determine the situation of Gamala:—1. It
was ἐνὶ κάτω Γαυλανᾷ, “in lower Gaulon,” in which, as we
have seen, Bethsaida was. 2. It was ὑπὲρ τὴν λίμνην [Tevvn-
σαρίτιδα)]" “ upon the lake [of Gennesaret].” 3. It was Ta-
ριχαιῶν ἀντικρὺς, ‘ over-against Tarichee.” Compare the
maps, whether in their placing of it they agree with these
passages. Here* was Judas born, commonly called ‘Gau-
lanites, and as commonly also, the ‘Galilean.’ So Peter and
Andrew and Philip were Gaulanites; of Bethsaida, John i.
44; and yet they were called ‘ Galileans.’
While we are speaking of Bethsaida, Chorazin comes into
our mind, which is joined with it, in the words of Christ,
Matt. xi. 21, as partaking with it in his miracles, and being
guilty of equal ingratitude. If you seek for the situation of
this place, where will you find it? Some maps place it on
this side Jordan, and others beyond Jordan: but on what
authority do both depend? It is mere conjecture, unless I
am deceived. Let me also conjecture.
The! word PWVIM Chorashin, denotes woody places, both
in the Holy Bible and in the Rabbinical writings. Hence
we suppose the Chorazin that is now before us is called,
f Joseph. de Bell. lib. ii. cap. 13. i Jos. de Bell. lib. iv. cap. 1. [iv.
[1 Ὁ: 1.}} Το ca
& Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 15. k [d. Antiq. lib. xvii. cap. I.
h De Bello, lib. iv. cap. 27. ἅν. [xviii. 1. 1.]
8. 2.] 1 English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 84.
Some towns upon the limits of the land. 181
namely, because it was seated in some woody place. Yor
such places the land of Nephthali was famous above the
other tribes: to which the words of Jacob have regard,
“ Nephthali is a hind let loose,’ Gen. xlix. [21]; that is,
Nephthali shall abound with venison; as Asher (of whom
mention is made in the words going before) shall abound in
bread, and royal dishes. Those words also of the Talmudists
refer to this, “It™ is lawful for cattle to feed in common,
snp) wawa mm vaw ἸῸΝ PWIA in the woods,
yea, for the tribe of Judah {to feed) in the tribe of Nephthal.”
Hence ‘ Harosheth of the Gentiles’ hath its name, Judg. iv. 2,
which was in that tribe. Led by these reasons, I suppose
our Chorazin to have been in Galilee, rather than in Perea,
where most maps place it.
But when this place seems to have been so famous for the
frequent presence and miracles of Christ, it is a wonder that
it hath nowhere else so much as a mention in the gospel-
story, but in the bare remembrance of it in those words of
Christ, “ Woe to thee, Chorazin,” &c.; whereas Bethsaida
and Capernaum, places that he mentioneth with it, are
spoken of elsewhere. What if, under this name, Cana be
concluded, and some small country adjacent, which, from its
situation in a wood, might be named ‘ Chorazin,’ that is, ‘ the
woody country? Cana is famous for the frequent presence
and miracles of Christ. But away with conjecture, when it
grows too bold.
ΟΗΑΡ. XCV.
Some towns upon the very limits of the land. Out of the
Jerusalem Talmud, Demai, fol. 22. 4.
In the place cited, discourse is had about the tithing of
some herbs and seeds, namely, of rice, nuts, onions, Kgyp-
tian beans, &c.; and inquiry is made, what is to be resolved
of tithing them, if they grow in places which seem to be
without the land; and these words are presently after
brought in :—
SD) DINN. NON Ny ἽΝ unto MDD “ These
cities are forbid in the borders, Tsur, Sezeth, and Bezeth,
Pi Mazobah, upper” and lower Canothah, Beth Badia, Rosh
m Hieros. Bava Bathra, fol. 15. 1. ἢ Leusden’s edition, vol. 11. p. 227.
182 Choregraphical century.
Maja, Amon, and Mazi (R. Mena saith, So it was called
anciently, but now Susitha): Ainosh, En Teraa, Ras, Berin,
Jion, Jadot, Caphar, Charob, Chaspia, and Caphar Tsemach.
These cities are permitted in the borders, Nebi, 7Jsur,
Tsijar, Gasmi, Zivian, Jagdi, Chatam, Debab, Charbatha,
and Cheraceah” (or “ Debab, and its wilderness, and its for-
tification”).
You see the name WWW Tsur, here once and again, of
which we have spoken before: let us add these words else-
where : “ 1° will walk before the Lord in the land of the
living: and are there not other lands of the living besides
Tsur and her companions, —and Cesarea and her com-
panions ¢”
Of ΠῺΣ 7535 Caphar Tsemach, there is mention also in
the place first cited, col. 3, in these words: ‘‘ Rabbi looseth
Bethshan. Rabbi looseth Cesarea. R. looseth Beth-Gu-
brim. Rabbi looseth Caphar Tsemach” (from the obligation,
as it seemeth, of the Demai). “ Rabbi permitted to take
herbs, in the end of the seventh year: but all were against
him. He said to them, Come, and let us judge of the matter.
‘It is written’ (concerning Hezekiah) ‘ And he beat in pieces
the brazen serpent.’ What! was not any one righteous from
Moses unto his times, who did this? But God reserved that
crown for him, that he might be crowned with it: and God
hath reserved this crown for us, that we may be crowned
with it.” Hgregium vero factum et spolia ampla, &e.P
CHAP: XCVI-a
The consistories of more note: out of the Babylonian Talmud,
Sanhedr. fol. 32. 2.
“Tne Rabbins deliver, Follow after righteousness, follow
after righteousness. Go to (Beth-Din) the famous consistory,
to R. Kleazar to Lydda, to Rabban Jochanan Ben Zaccai,
bn syqnb. A tradition; The sound of mills Δ 7a
Burni. The sons’ week, the sons’ week. <A candle in 3973
211 Beror Chel. <A feast is there, a feast is there.”
These things are something obscure, and do require light.
© Hieros. Kilaim, fol. 22. 2. P Virg, An. iv. 92.
τ : 3 ἈΠ’ τ 5 ὃ
« English folio edition, vol. il. p. 8
~
2
The consistories of note. 183
berm a2 Beror Chel, seems to design a place: but what
place? Indeed, the Sanhedrim of R. Jochanan was in Jabneh ;
but his consistory, Ἴ) M2 his seat of judgment, seems to
be distinguished from the Sanhedrim. So Paul was brought
up at the feet of Rabban Gamaliel; not in his Sanhedrim,
but 7 Maa in his consistory or school. So you may
conjecture, that Rabban Jochanan, besides that he sat presi-
dent of the chief Sanhedrim, had his peculiar consistory in
Jabneh itself, or in some neighbour place.
That which follows, “ A tradition, the sound of mills,”
ὅσο. is cleared by the Glossers: “The sound of mills in
Burni was a sign that there was a circumcision there; as if
it had been publicly proclaimed, The infant’s week expires in
this place. And the sound of a mill was a sign that spices
were ground to be applied to the wound of the circumcision.
It was a time of persecution, wherein it was forbidden to
circumcise: they feared, therefore, by any public notice to
make known that there was to be a circumcision; but they
appointed this sign.”
‘A candle in Beror Chel..—The Gloss writes, “ The light
of one candle in the day-time, but many candles burning in
the night, gave a sign, as if one had given notice by a public
proclamation that a feast of circumcision was there,” We.
Another Gloss is thus: “They were wont to light candles
at a circumcision. It was also a custom to spread a table-
cloth at the door: hence is that, A custom prevailed at Jeru-
salem, that as long as the tablecloth was spread at the door,
travellers went in.”
The Aruch writes thus; “In” the time of persecution
they could not celebrate public matrimony, nor public cir-
cumcision; therefore, they did them secretly: wheresoever,
therefore, were lighted candles on the lintel of the door, they
knew that there was a wedding-feast there ; and wheresoever
was the sound of mills, there was a circumcision.”
The Jerusalem Talmudists add, WOwm bray 5 boyy FS
bon ss oman « Although’ the persecution ceased, yet
that custom ceased not.”
The Babylonian Talmudists go on. “Go to R. Josua
r Aruch in 518. 5 Chetubh. fol. 25. 3.
184 Chorographical century.
ype to Pekin.” Inthe Jerusalem Talmudists it is Py.
Bekiin, in this story that follows: .
“Τὺ, Jochanan Ben Bruchaht, and R. Eliezer the blind,
travelled from Jabneh to Lydda, and received R. Josua
Py ya. in Bekiin.
“Go to Rabban Gamaliel to Jabneh.
“ Go to Rabbi Akiba to Bene Barak.
«(Ὁ to R. Mathia to Roma.
“Go to R. Chananiah Ben Teradion to Sieni.
“To R. Jose to Zippor.
“To R. Judah Ben Betirah to Nisibin.
“To R. Josua to the captivity (viz. to Pombeditha.)
“ ΠῸ Rabbi to Beth-Shaaraim.
“To the Wise men in the chamber Gazith.”
CHAP: XCV Ia
The cities of the Levites.
Concernine them, see Numbers, chap. xxxv. and Joshua
chap. xxi.
““Thex suburbs of the cities of the Levites were three
thousand cubits on every side; viz. from the walls of the city,
and outwards; as it is said, ‘ From the walls of the city and
outwards a thousand cubits: and thou shalt measure from
without the city two thousand cubits’ (Numb. xxxv. 4, 5).
The former thousand were the suburbs, and the latter two
thousand were for fields and vineyards. They appointed the
place of burial to every one of thosey cities to be without
these bounds; for within them it was not lawful to bury a
dead corpse.” Do you ask the reason? It was not so much
for the ayoiding pollution, which might be contracted from a
sepulchre, as by reason of the scribes’ curious interpretation
of the law, that saith, The suburban lands of these cities were
given to the Levites for their cattle and oxen, on by "ἢ
“and for all their living” (creatures), Numb. xxxv. 3 :—
therefore, say they, not for the dead or for burial.
ΑἸ] ΖΦ the cities of the Levites were cities of refuge; but
t Chagigah, fol. 75. 4. cap. 13.
Ὁ English folio edit. vol. 1. p. 86. y Leusden’s edition, vol. il. p. 238.
x Maimon. in Shemittah Vejobel, z Id. in Rotzeah, cap. 8.
Cities of the Levites. 185
with this distinction from those six which were properly so
eailed ; that those six afforded refuge to every one that
dwelt in them, whether he betook himself thither for that
end or no: but the other Levitical cities were not so. And
also, that the unwitting manslayer, flying to those six cities,
dwelt there at free cost, without paying any rent for his
house; but in the other Levitical cities he lived not at free
cost.
Those forty-eight cities of the Levites were so many uni-
versities, where the ministerial tribe, distributed in compa-
nies, studied the law, became learned; and thence scattered
through the whole nation, dispersed learning and the know-
ledge of the law in all the synagogues.
Two things are, not without good reason, to be observed
here, which, perhaps, are not seriously enough observed
by all.
I. The settled ministry of the church of Israel was not
prophets, but priests and Levites, Mal. ii. 7. For it was not
seldom when there were no prophets; and the prophets send
the people to the priests for instruction, Hag. 11. 11, and
Malachi, in the place mentioned already.
II. That tithes were granted to the priests and Levites,
not only when they ministered at the altar or in the Temple,
but when they studied in the universities and preached in the
synagogues.
Behold the method of God’s own institution. God
chooseth Israel to be a peculiar people to himself: to this
chosen people he gives a law and a clergy: on the clergy
he enjoins the study of the law: to their studies he suits
academical societies: on the universities he bestows lands
and tithes: on the synagogues he bestows tithes and uni-
versity-men.
And the schools of the prophets were little universities,
and colleges of students. For their governor they had some
venerable prophet, inspired with the Holy Spirit, and that
partook of divine revelations. The scholars were not in-
spired indeed with the same prophetical spirit, but received
prophecies from the mouth of their master. He revealed to
them those things that were revealed to him, of the will of
God and the state of the people, of the times and events of
180 Chorographical century.
Israel, and above all, of the mysteries of the gospel; of the
Messias, of his coming, times, death, resurrection, and those
things that were to be done by him.
In these small universities, “‘ the prophets, who prophesied
of the grace that should come (as the apostle Peter speaks) ἃ,
inquired diligently of salvation; searching what, or what
manner of time that was, which was pointed out by the Spirit
of Christ that was in them, when he foretold the sufferings
of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” These things,
not to be fetched out by the mere and bare study of the law,
were here taught ; and so the studies of the law and gospel
together rendered the minister of the divine word complete.
CHAP. XC VITT®
Some miscellaneous matters respecting the face of the land.
I. Ler us begin with that canon concerning reading the
Book of Esther in the feast of Purim. TOW PSV B75
sywrp mya “ Towns’ that were begirt with walls from the
days of Joshua read it on the fifteenth day” of the month
Adar: mbyy ΓΝ DDD “ Villages and great cities
read it the fourteenth day :” ord Pop. ΒΘ ΜΌΝ
ΓΘ ΣΣΓῚ “Unless that the villages anticipate it, to the day
of the congregation.”
You see a threefold distinction of cities and towns:
1. DDD Fortifications, or towns girt with walls from
the days of Joshua. But whence shall we know them? They
are those which are mentioned in the Book of Joshua;
“which4, however in after-times they were not begirt with
walls, are nevertheless reckoned under the catalogue of them,
as to the reading of that book.”
2. mbna mivvy Great cities. That was called a great
city in which was a synagogue. So it is defined by the Piske
Tosaphoth, pIdwa Ὁ ΤᾺ WwW NIT MITA Wye « That is
a great city, in which are ten men at leisure to pray and read
the law.” See what we say concerning these things on Matt.
iv. 23, when we speak of synagogues.
a [x Pet.i- 10, 11.] d wot PDB artic. 2.
Ὁ English folio edit. vol. 1. p. 87. e Piske Tosaph. artic. 2.
© Megill. cap. 1. hal. 1.
Miscellaneous matters. . 187
3. OND Villages. That is, such where there was not
a synagogue. Yea, saith the Piske Harosh, “a fortified
town, wherein are not ten men of leisure” (or such as ‘ceased
from the things of the world;’ and these made up a syna-
gogue), NDI3 ΥΥ2 “is reputed as a village,” ὅσο.
That which is added in the text of the Misna, “ Unless
the villages do anticipate it to the day of the congregation,”
is thus explained by the Glossers: ‘“ When towns, girt with
walls, read the Book of Esther on the fifteenth day, and
those that were not walled, on the fourteenth (see Esth. ix.
21): and yet it is said before” (in the same text of the
Misna), “that that book is read the eleventh, twelfth, and
thirteenth days; the wise men granted liberty to the vil-
lages to preoceupate the reading, namely, on that day wherein
they resorted to the synagogue: that is, either the second
day of the week, that went before the fourteenth day of the
month, or the fifthf day of the week: which were days of
assembly, in which the villages resorted into the cities to
judgment. For the second and fifth days of the week, the
judiciary consistories sat in the cities by the appointment of
Ezra. Now the villagers were not skilful in reading; there-
fore it was needful that they should have some reader in
the city.”
II. Let the canons and cautions of the spaces and places
next joining to the city or town be observed :
LTR OWA Wy p> FWA AS Powys “A
dovecote was not built within fifty cubits from the city :” and
that, lest the pigeons might do injury to the gardens that
were sown.
2. Tmax ‘AD ὙΠ po poss ms ppm « They per-
mitted not a tree within five-and-twenty cubits from the
city.” ‘And this (as the Gloss speaks) for the grace of the
city.”
3. TAN 2 WPT yO yiap PI ΓΝ ppm “ They al-
lowed not a barn-floor within fifty cubits from the city :”
that, when they fanned their corn, their chaff might not
offend the citizens.
4. “ They permitted not dead carcases, or burying-places,
nor a tanner’s shop, to be within fifty cubits from the city”
f Leusden’s edition, vol. 11. p. 239. & Bava Bathra, cap. 2. hal. 5.
188 Chorographical century.
(because of the stink). ‘“ Nor did they allow a tanner’s
workshop at all, but on the east side of the city. R. Akiba
saith, On any side, except the west, but at the distance of
fifty cubits.”
III. From the cities let us walk forth into their ploughed
grounds and fields.
Here you might see, in some places, certain? tokens hung
upon some fig-trees, to show of what year the fruit that grew
there was. See what we say on Matt. xxi.19. In other
places, you might see barren trees stigmatized with some
mark of infamy. ‘ Ai tree which shook off its fruits before
they were ripe, NVIDIA IMS PVA they mark with red,
and load it with stones.”
You might see the ploughing and mowing of their fields,
the dressing of their vines, and their vintage, to be done by
the rules of the scribes, as well as by the art of the hus-
bandman, or the vine-dresser. For such was the care and
diligence of the Fathers of the Traditions, concerning tithing
corn and fruits, concerning leaving a corner for the poor, con-
cerning the avoiding of sowing different seeds, and of not
transgressing the law concerning the seventh year; that they
might not plough, nor sow, nor reap, but according’ to the
traditional rule. Hence are those infinite disputes in the
books Peah, Demai, Kilaim, Sheviith, of! the corner of the
field to be left, what and how much the portion of it was, and
of what things such corners ought to consist’ Of™ those that
divide the field so that a double corner of it is due to the
poor: Whether® a corner is due from beds of corn that grow
among olive trees?) Whether from a field whose sowing and
reaping is various? What® are the trees whose fruits are
Demai? OfP what things is the tithing of the Demai? How4
long the same plot of ground may be sown with different
seeds, so as not to offend against the law? Of sowing different
seeds :—How' many vines make a vineyard? Of their rows,
of the beds of the vineyard, of sowing within the press, We.
and innumerable decisions of that nature, which did so keep
h Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 35. 4. n Td. cap. 3.
i [bid. col. 3. © Demai, cap. I.
kK English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 88. P Ib. cap. 2.
1 Peah, cap. t. 4 Kilaim, cap. 3.
m Jd. cap. 2. r Ibid. cap. 4. and 5.
Subterraneous places. 189
the countryman within bounds, that he could not plough nor
mow his land according to his own will, but according to the
rule of tradition.
«ς Thes inhabitants of Beth-Namer measured out a corner
for the poor with a line, and they gave a corner out of every
row. Abba Saul saith, They make mention of them to their
praise, and to their dispraise: to their dispraise, because
they gave one part out of a hundred; to their praise, because,
measuring with a line, they collected and gave a corner out
of every row:” that is, meeting with a measuring line, they
yielded the hundredth part of the field to the poor, and that
out of every row of sheaves.
CHAP. ._XCIX.
Subterraneous places. Mines. Caves.
Tuus having taken some notice of the superficies of the
land, let us a little search into its bowels. You may divide
the subterraneous country into three parts: the metal mines,
the caves, and the places of burial.
This land was eminently noted for metal mines, so that
“its stones,” in very many places, “ were iron, and out of its
hills was digged brass,” Deut. viii. 9. From these gain ac-
crued to the Jews ; but to the Christians, not seldom slavery
and misery; being frequently condemned hither by tyrants.
So Eusebius of Edesius, Τοῖς κατὰ Παλαιστίνην δέδοται pe-
τάλλοις t, He was condemned to the metal mines of Pales-
tine.” And again, concerning others, Εἶτ᾽ ἐπὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς
μεταβὰς ὁμολογητὰς, τοῖς κατὰ Dawe τῆς [Παλαιστίνης χαλκοῦ
μετάλλοις τοὺς πάντας παραδίδωσιν" “ Then" passing to the
other confessors of Christ, he condemns them all to the brass
mines, which were in Pheno of Palestine.”
On the north part of the land, in the country of Asher,
were mines of metal. Hence is that in Deut. xxxil. 25,
« Thy shoes shall be iron and brass.” On the south, in the
desert of Sin, the utmost bounds of Judea, were mines also:
hence M8 VAYI—and shall pass to Zin, as our translation
reads, Num. xxxiv. 4,—in the Jerusalem Targumist, is ἼΩΝ
5. Hieros. Peah, fol. 18. 2. Ὁ Euseb. lib. vill. cap. 18.
u Tbid. cap. 17.
100 Chorographical century.
mop wr over-against the mountain of iron: and in-
Jonathan, sop arn spy unto the palm-trees of the moun-
tain of iron: and in the Talmudists, MWS 3 er ST
the palm-trees of the mountain of iron are fit to make a small
bundle to carry in the hand in the feast of Tabernacles y. On
the east coast of Perea was also Σιδηροῦν ὄρος, “ an iron
mountain,’—witness Josephus”. And without doubt there
were other such-like mines, scattered here and there in other
parts of that land, though of them we have no mention.
You will not at all wonder at these underminings of the
earth, seeing they brought so much profit and gain with
them, and were so necessary to the life of man. But what
shall we say of those dens and caves in rocks and mountains,
whence no gain seemed to be digged, but rather danger arose
to the neighbouring places oftentimes? For what were these,
but lurking-places for wild beasts and robbers! There is in-
finite mention of these caves both in the Holy Scriptures and
in other writings, especially in Josephus, where ὑπόνομοι, and
σπήλαια, subterrancous passages, and dens, are mentioned a
thousand times. And many of these were of a vast large-
ness, searcely to be credited; those especially in the Tal-
mudists, which are called ** The dens of Zedekiah,” not a
few miles in distance.
But were those hollows the work of nature, or of the
hands and industry of man? By one example, taken out of
Josephus, the thing may be determined. Relating the story
of a castle built by Hyrcanus in Perea, among other things
he speaks thus : "Ex δὲ τῆς κατ᾽ ἀντικρὺ τοῦ ὄρους πέτρας διατε-
μὼν αὐτῆς τὸ προέχον, σπήλαια πολλῶν σταδίων τὸ μῆκος κα-
τεσκεύασεν᾽ “ Out® of the rock against the mountain, having
cut in two the prominent parts of it, he made dens of many
furlongs long.” And a livtle after, Ta μέντοι στόμια τῶν
σπηλαίων, dote> ἕνα bv αὐτῶν εἰσιέναι, καὶ μὴ πλείους. βραχύτερα
ἤνοιξε" ““ He made the mouths that opened into these dens
to be strait, that but one might go in at a time, and no
more : καὶ ταῦτ᾽ ἐπίτηδες, ἀσφαλείας ἕνεκα, τοῦ μὴ πολιορκηθεὶς
x Succah, cap. 3. hal. 1. a Joseph. Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 5.
y Leusden’s edition, vol.ii. p. 240. [Huds., p. 530. 1. 36.] [xil. 4. 11.]
z De Bello, lib. iv. cap. 27. [Hud- b English folio edit., vol. i. p. 89.
son, p. 1193. 1. 37-] [iv. 8. 2.]
Of the places of Burial. - 191
ὑπὸ TOV ἀδελφῶν κινδυνεῦσαι ληφθεὶς, κατασκεύασε" “ and this
he did on purpose for security's sake, and for avoiding danger,
in case he should be besieged by his brethren.”
These dens, therefore, were cut out of mountains and rocks
for the uses of war, that they might serve for refuge and
strength. And it is probable the Canaanites, a warlike and
gigantic nation, had digged very many of these caves before
the entrance of the Israelites into that land; and that the
Israelites also increased the number of them. See concerning
these caves, Josh. x. 16; Judg. vi. 2; 1 Sam. xxil. 1, and
Xxiv. 3; 1 Kings xviii. 13; Isa. 11: 19, &e.
CEAP ΟΣ
Of the places of Burial.
Tere were more common and more noble sepulchres.
The common were in public burying-places, as it is with us:
but they were without the city. “ And¢ through that place
was no current of waters to be made; through it was to be
no public way; cattle were not to feed there, nor was wood
to be gathered from thence.”
“ Nor4 was it lawful to walk among the sepulchres with
phylacteries fastened to their heads, nor with the book of the
law hanging at their arm.”
Some sepulchres were extraordinary; that is, in reference
to the place of their situation. As, 1. NBD A AS se-
pulchre found; that is, when a sepulchre is in somebody's
field without his knowledge; but at last the sepulchre is dis-
covered. 2. DWT MAS AN 7p A sepulchre that is pub-
licly noxious; that is, digged near some place of common
walk or travel: from the nearness of which the passengers
contract pollution.
The more noble sepulchres were hewn out in some rock,
in their own ground, with no little charge and art. You have
the form of them described in the place noted in the marginf,
in these words:
“ He that selleth his neighbour a place of burial, and he
that takes of his neighbour a place of burial, let him make
¢ Massech. Semabhoth, cap.14. Hieros. Nedarim, fol. 57. 4.
ἃ Bab. Berac. fol. 18.1. f Bava Bathra, cap. 6. hal. ult.
© Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 47. 2. and
102 Chorographical century.
the inner parts of the cave four cubits, and six cubits; and
let him open within it 79313 ΤΊ eight sepulchres.” They were
not wont, say the Glosses, to bury men of the same family
here and there, scatteringly, and by themselves, but altoge-
ther in one cave: whence, if any one sells his neighbour a
place of burial, he sells him room for two caves, or hollows
on both sides, and a floor in the middle. "ΤῚΞ is the very
place where the dead corpse is laid.
The tradition goes on: NI pas "3 “ Three sepulchres
are on this side, and three on that, and two near them. And
those sepulchres are four cubits long, seven high, and six
broad.”
To those that entered into the sepulchral cave, and carried
the bier, there was first a floor, where they stood, and set
down the bier, in order to their letting it down into the se-
pulchre: on this and the other side, there was a cave, or a
hollowed place, deeper than the floor by four cubits, into
which they let down the corpse, divers coffins being there
prepared for divers corpses. ‘ R. Simeon saith, The hollow
of the cave consists of six cubits, and eight eubits, and it
opens thirteen sepulchres within it, four on this side and
four on that, and three before them, and one on the right
hand of the door, and another on the left. And the floor
within the entrance into the cave consists of a square, ac-
cording to the dimensions of the bier, and of them that bear
it: and from it, it opens two caves, one on this side, and
another on that. R. Simeon saith, Four at the four sides of
it. Rabban Simeon Ben Gamaliel saith, The whole is made
according to the condition of the ground.”
These things are handled by the Gemarists and Glossers
very curiously and very largely, whom you may consult.
From these things now spoken, you may more plainly under-
stand many matters which are related of the sepulchre of
our Saviour. Such as these :
Mark xvi. 5: ‘The women, entering into the sepulchre,
saw a young man sitting on the right hand:” in the very
floor, immediately after the entrance into the sepulchre.
Lukes xxiv. 3: “ Going in they found not his body,” &e.
Ver. 5: “ While they bowed down their faces to the earth
& English folio edit., vol. ii. p. go.
Of the places of Burial. 193
[ver. 12], Peter ran to the sepulchre!, and, when he had
stooped down, he saw the linen-clothes ;” that is, the women,
and Peter after them, standing in the floor (YMA), bow
down their faces, and look downward into the place where
the sepulchres themselves were (1331377 myn the cave of the
graves), which, as we said before, was four cubits deeper than
the floor.
John xx. 5: “ The disciple whom Jesus loved came first
to the sepulchre ; and when he had stooped down” (stand-
ing in the floor, that he might look into the burying-place),
‘“‘ saw the linen clothes lie; yet went he not in. But Peter
went in,” &c.; that is, from the floor he went down into the
cave itself, where the rows of the graves (32) were (in which,
nevertheless, no corpses had been as yet laid, besides the
body of Jesus): thither also after Peter, John goes down.
And ver. 11: “ But Mary, weeping, stood at the sepulchre
without: and while she wept, she stooped down to the se-
pulchre, and saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head,
and another at the feet, where the body of Christ had lain.”
“She stood at the sepulchre without ;” that is, within
the cave, on the floor, but without that deeper cave, where
the very graves were, or "2 the places for the bodies : bow-
ing herself, to look down thither, she saw two angels at the
head and foot of that 3 coffin wherein the body of Christ
had been laid.
h Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 239.
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CONTENTS
CHOROGRAPHICAL CENTURY:?.
CHAP.
Membetdivisionof the προ πο ci. 85. dee asevece wid selene
II. The Talmudic girdle of the land under the second Temple,
taken out of the Jerusalem Sheviith, fol. 36. 3. ἘΞ ἘΞ᾽ Ὁ
RENCE COLA IAN «fet sl LN AE cia once Re tae See eae cepa ΛΩΤῸΝ
Ill. A great part of south Judea cut off under the second
Memple.. jewish Mdumesy s <s.20 sche. agen eye eens
IV. The seven seas according to the Talmudists, and the four
rivers Commpassino the land ¢°: 7... ...-<s<-a..2 Mie ooo stan ea
Wealhe seater Sodom, ΠΡ Disc:.cisss.ccdsee ocktete eae
VI. The coast of the Asphaltites. The Essenes. Engedi ......
VII. Cadesh. tOp5, and that double. Inquiry is made, Whe-
ther the doubling it in the maps is well done .................:
VIII. The river of Egypt, Rhinocorura. The lake of Sirbon...
EX A sight of Judea, 2.000.064.
X. A description of the sea- Sats out : of Pliny aad Strebel
XJ. The mountainous country of Judea :J5on 4n.............
XII. The south country. Axnn) ΠΗ» xDINT. Judea called
pin the South in respect of Galilee ..............0ccce0eeeee eee
XIII. Gaza. . a er
XIV. eatone ἜΣ ar. "The sto of the eighty See ἘΠΕ
XV. Jabneh. Jamnia.. πεν Ξ Eee arid
So NURI TA Disco EE MG nar Sec a Otc ee Da ee PS γὲ:
XVII. Sharon. Caphar Lodim. 713 755, The village of
those of Myddar ἘΠ Go. .seses oa Stes an τὴν πη ον aa ae
RAED Caplan ΤΠ ΝΞΟ SES) eae ae ceca We os sae heb eek τ τος
XIX. The northern coast of Judea. Beth-horon................
MUX. Bethizel.. ‘Bethtayenies coieik os cseccaeuce Ss eee ec ee
a This Index is not in the English folio edition.
O 2
196 CONTENTS OF THE
ΧΧΤ. Sertsalem 03. kices io ssiete ack cables eta ΡΣ eet eee amet 46
XXII. The parts of the city. Sion. ἔλνω πόλις, the Upper
City : which was on the north part... .i:\scc05s0dercaeos che. 50
XXIII. The buildings of more eminent note in Sion ............ δΙ
XXIV. Some buildings in Acra. Bezetha. Mhillo............... 54
XXYV. Gihon, the same with the Fountain of Siloam. ............ Τὶ
XXVI. The girdle of the city: Neh. iu... τὺ nel
XXYVUL..Mount Moriah 300 cc eos onan coer eee ee ee 63
XXVIII. The court of the Gentiles. ΠΣ 4m The Mountain
of the House, in the Rabbins ./.:)..1))...202.a.b. ce .toeeee π᾿
XXIX. paws nosy: ὅπ Chel. The court of the Women..... 66
XXX. The gate of Nicanor, or the east gate of the court of
syne ies coe Ses son date coed suns Ν eae ae 68
XXXI. Concerning the gates and chambers lying on the south
SIGS OL GHE |COURG cas cise ook eee ne a eee Oe cee 12 eee 70
XXXII. The gates and doors on the north side .................. 72
KX ATL “The court mtself: \4.0. ccc. es haees ce eeee see < ooo eee 783
XXXIV. The'altar:. ὙΠῸ xings.' Thelaver.......--.. 3.21.20
XXXV. Some other memorable places of the city ............... 78
XXXVI. Synagogues in the city ; and schools. .................. 78
ΧΧΧΥΤΙ Bethphage: OY TD. s. πΠοᾳοΘψΨ!ιΠοΠΕὸάάΈσπΠέΠ- τ Ξε
XXXVIII. Kedron. vce dois Be aeetwen sae fares oat ee
XXXIX. The valley of Heino ah ope We τις 85
XL. Mount Olivet. Ἐπ Sn The mount t of Olive es, 2 Ὁ ἘΣ
xv. 30; Zech. xiv. 4. In the Rabbins commonly, Tnwon 37
The mount of Oil.. Mc tices le vv τυ GEE ee
XLI. Bethany. 97 72. . Beth- ene ἘΣ Gxcr eee sae eee 90
RULE tobi. Σκύπός jSCopo.. 26). se eetece maniacs cerenaeee ee ὶὸὰ
XLII. Ramah. Ramathaim Zophim. Gibeah ................ 92
ROLTV:: Neb, Babtrim: πΠύ ΠΝ 93
XLV. Emmaus. Kiriath-jearim ........ cocks We
XLVI. The country of Jericho, and the situation ee he εἰς 95
AL VAT. Jericho ΒΘ ΣΝ τ πὸ πο pease ee eee $8
XLVIII. Some miscellaneous matters belonging to the country
about Jericho.. ἘΝ τ eee een
AEX lebron tee hee eivek eee DERE νος eee 103
L. Of the cities of refuge: ...25.10..02s.ccccees soceee sane ene eee
LT. Beth-lohemiwcsic. ce sess candine-ane steeeias peices tects es een 106
LLL --Betars sor eee et eee soe eee ae 107
1111. may, Lphram... «vonage Rese ene eee
LIV. pry Zsok: and ἸἸΥῚΤΠ n°, = ee hades DAS, Stet eee
ὮΝ Divers*matters προ ceo st ants perde does atte eepinars we news
CHOROGRAPHICAL CENTURY.
LVI. Samaria. Sychem
LVII. Ceesarea. πΠύργος Στράτωνος. Strato’s tower ............
LVIII. Antipatris. obw >, Caphar Salama...............45.
fee Galilee. τ᾿ ΡΠ ΠΡ ΠΡ ΣΎ ΜΕ
LX. Seythopolis. πὴ m2, Beth-shean, the beginning of
PTL Ce 2 τευ δ πε oe RS NE on ie Le Se LI) Meson
LXI. Caphar Hananiah 331m 552. The middle of Galilee...
ΠΧ The disposition of the tribes in Galilee....................
LXIII. The west coast of Galilee-Carmel τσ...
LXIV. Aconisy. Ptolemais.. ἜΡΙΣ
LXV. Eedippa. Achzib: Teal XIX. 29, ΓΙ Ἵ Ὁ ᾿ Κλίμαξ
Τυρίων: Climax of the Tyrians... Se ST δ τς ἀα Net See oo
LXVI. The northern coast of Galilee. Amanah. The moun-
SAHIN CHEE STLO τ fake too 5s Sa oct SNR eA TREE EE a
LXVII. dn n5 Pamias. Paneas, the spring of Jordan .........
LXVIII. What is to be said of ΒΕ no». The sea of
Apamia .. BORG ECAH Rk ta) fas eae vl eae
LXIX. The Tas Suances Rt ic eee Be See eae
LXX. The lake of Gennesaret; or, the sea of Galilee and
MORIA ΤΉ ae aE Sow eee)
LXXI. Within what tribe the lake of Gennesaret was
LXXII. Tiberias
LXXIV. non Chammath. Ammaus. Μὴ ΠΤ The warm
bathsrote Dibeniass Ate tats css acinee ss Matha eae oe
LXXV. Gadara. 453
HP NON ΕΑ Mee detainees tpaaean snes sank προ vnscene ee eiktal eee
PEO ΠΡ Eippos ππεε θα j..a sss cease aed eonoeee. Cee
LXXVIII. Some other towns near Tiberias. py nn Beth-
Meon. son 45> Caphar Chittaia. anobp Paltathah.....
PMXUX Phe country of. Gennesanet ¢<. 25.2.1... dessins cscs es
HE NOXONE = Wa perma τον ἀρ sa arseens Deas πον
LXXXI. Some history of Tiberias. The Jerusalem Talmud
was written there : and when
DDG ΠΙΈΡ ΟΡ ok Ca a Oe PPR ge
LXXXIIL. Some places bordering upon Tsippor. maw? Je-
shanah. 93) Ketsarah. prow Shihin
LXXXIV. suis Usha.. ἊΝ :
ΤΧΧΧΥ. Arbel. Shenae.’ nese. anne Τανκοροίε ie
upper.. :
LXXXVI. The differences a some customs ee ἘΠ’ @hlileans
from those of Judea
Dee ewe mer eee eer sees ΠΟ --
198 CONTENTS, &c.
LXXXVII. The dialect of the Galileans, differing from the
OWISD «5 ces eee ad tL ee eee eee 170
LXXXVIIL. 5253 Gilgal in Deut. xi. 30: what that place was. 172
LXXXIX. Divers towns called by the name of 71¥ TZ'yre ....... 174
AC. Coma. στο ai S.c58 poise Tbe senses tae κεν eee 178
XCD. Perea. 3707 nay. Beyond Jordan......:.2-5./-<..0qe το 176
XCI.. Adam and Zaretan} Joshi. .:. 0... 20. ρὕὌἅἍ... ee 172
ΧΟ ]1155- Βεύπροσν.. ον 178
MOTV. Gamala.. i(Chorazims πΠτ π πτον 1:0
XCV. Some towns upon the very limits of the land. Out of
the Jerusalem Talmud, Demat; fol. 22. 4...........-004csevseene 181
XCVI. The consistories of more note : out of the Babylonian
Talrnud;toanhedy:toli:32) 72" 2... oS. -te ances asec ee 182
ROVE. The cities: of the ιν θυ sc 2-s-sea Seach eee 184
XCVIII. Some miscellaneous matters respecting the face of
Ghedland ios 2 5s cas. ceca Se gaa a ets can Deen 55.2.0. 186
XCIX. Subterraneous places. Mines. Caves .................. 189
©: Of the places of- burials, =... oca..de<ss sees c aencaes oe eee eee 191
Α
CHOROGRAPHICAL DECAD;
SEARCHING INTO
SOME PLACES OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL;
THOSE ESPECIALLY
WHEREOF MENTION IS MADE IN ST. MARK.
Α
CHOROGRAPHICAL DECAD,
&e. &e.2
WHEN this our evangelist, whom we have undertaken to
handle, makes mention of some places in the land of Canaan,
whose situation is somewhat obscure and more remote from
vulgar knowledge; I might seem to be wanting to my task,
if I should pass them over unsaluted, and not clear them, as
much as lies in me, with some illustration: which I thought
very convenient to do here in the very entrance; partly,
lest, by the thrusting-in of these discourses into the body of
this comment, whatsoever it be, the order of it might be too
much broken; and partly, because I would do the same here
that I did before my animadversions on St. Matthew.
The places which here are handled are these :
I. Idumea, Mark ii. 8.
II. ΓἜρημος, ‘ The wilderness ;? chap. 1. 4.
III. Γαζοφυλάκιον, ‘The treasury; chap. ΧΙ]. 41.
IV. Ἢ κώμη ἡ κατέναντι, ‘ The village over-against ;’ chap.
mai
V. Dalmanutha; chap. vin. 10.
VI. Ὅρια Τύρου, καὶ Σιδῶνος" ‘ The borders of Tyre and
Sidon ;? chap. vii. 24.
VII. The coasts of Decapolis; chap. vii. 31. And to
complete the Decad, are added,
VIII. Some measurings.
IX. Some places here and there noted.
X. Concerning some inhabitants of the land.
That I have enlarged upon some places, besides those in
a English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 289.—Leusden’s edition, vol. 11. p. 397:
202 Chorographical decad.
the evangelists, I have done it for the reader's sake ; to whom,
I hope, it will not be unacceptable to hear such things, which
do either bring with them profit or pleasure,—or, at least,
such as are not commonly heard of.
CHAP, [Ὁ
I. Idumea. 11. A few things of Pelusium. III. Casiotis : 79-D5
Cas-jah: Exod. xvii. 16. IV. Rhinocorura. The Arabic
Interpreter noted. VV. The country of the Avites, a part of
New Idumea. V1. The whole land of Simeon within Idumea.
VIL. The whole southern country of Judea, within Idumea.
VILL. Concerning Healthful Palestine.
Secr. I.—Jdumea: Mark iii. 8.
Tuere was a time when the land of Israel and Idumea were
not only distinct countries, but separated with an iron wall, as
it were, of arms and hostility: but, I know not how, Idumea
at last crept into Judea; and scarcely left its name at home,
being swallowed up in Arabia.
They were truths, which Pliny speaks, in that time, when
he spake them; ““ Arabia® is bounded by Pelusium sixty-
five miles. Then Idumea begins, and Palestine, at the rising
up of the Sirbon lake.” But “ thou art deceived, O Pliny,”
would the ancienter ages have said; for Idumea is bounded
by Pelusium sixty-five miles: then begins ‘Palestine, at the
rising up of the Sirbon.
We are beholden to Strabo4, that we know the reason of
the transmigration of that people and of the name. For thus
he writes: Τῆς ᾿Ιουδαίας τὰ μὲν ἑσπέρια ἄκρα. τὰ πρὸς τῷ Κασίῳ,
κατέχουσιν ᾿Ιδουμαῖοί τε καὶ λίμνη. Ναβαταῖοι δὲ εἰσὶν οἱ ᾿Ιδου-
μαῖοι: κατὰ στάσιν δὲ ἐκπεσόντες, Χο. “ The Idumeans and
the lake [of Sirbon] take up the farthest western parts of
Judea, next to Casius. The Idumeans are Nabateans: but
being cast out thence by a sedition, they joined themselves
to the Jews, and embraced their laws.”
Every one knows what the land of Edom, or Idumea, in
the Old Testament®, was: but it is not the same in the New;
and if that old Idumea retained its name (which it scarcely
> English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 290. 4 Strab. Geog. lib. xvi. [c. 2.]
¢ Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 12. © Leusden’s edition, vol. 11. p. 398.
A few things of Pelusium. 203
did, but was swallowed up under the name of Arabia), then,
by way of distinction, it was called ᾿Ιδουμαῖα Μεγάλη, “ Great
Idumea‘.” Idumea the Less, or the New, is that which we
are seeking, and concerning which St. Mark speaks, no small
part of Judea ;—so called either from its nearness to Idumea
properly so called, or because of the Idumeans that travelled
τ thither and possessed it, and that became proselytes to the
law and manners of the Jews. Such a one was Herod As-
ealonita. When, therefore, it is said by the evangelist,
that “a great multitude followed Jesus from Galilee, and
from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea,” he
speaketh either of the Jews inhabiting that part of Judea,
which, at that time, was called Idumea,—or at least of the
Idumeans, who inhabited it, being now translated into the
religion of the Jews. Concerning the country now con-
tained under that name, we shall speak by and by, following,
first, Pliny’s footsteps a little, from the place where he sets
out his progress,—namely, from Pelusium.
Secr. IL.—A few thinas of Pelusium.
In Ezek. xxx. 15, 16, po Sin, in the Vulgar interpreter
is ‘Pelusium:’ which the Latin interpreter of the Chaldee
paraphrast follows there: nor without good reason. For
Υ Sin, and 7 Tin, among the Chaldees, is Mud. See the
Targum upon Isa. lvii. 21. And ‘ Pithom’ and ‘ Raamses’
(Exod. i. 11), in the Targums of Jerusalem and Jonathan,
are poion ὩΣ Tanis and Pelusium: thence those two gates
of Nile, the ‘ Tanitic’ and the ‘ Pelusiac,’ in Ptolemy and
the maps. But now, that country or place, which the Sy-
rians and Chaldeans call Sin, that is, Muddy,—the Greeks
eall Pelusium, from Πηλὸς, Mud. And who sees not that
Tanis is derived from 12 Tin ?
And here, for the sake of learners, let me observe, that
Pelusium is called in the Talmudists, 8°20) ; which who
would not presently interpret Cappadocia ?
myn Ὑπὸ JI SPWIHPI ΓΟ Δ POI TWN NWI
mS poipp: Would not any render the words thus, “ If" a
man marries a wife in Cappadocia and divorces her in Cap-
f Jos. de Bell. lib. iv. cap. 30. & English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 291.
liv: 9... .4:]} h Chetub. fol. 110. 2. et 120.
204 Chorographical decad.
padocia, let him give her the money of Cappadocia.” But
hear Rambam upon the place; ΣΝ ΙΔ» saith he, “ is Caph-
tor, and is called by the Arabians YN Damiata : which
all know is the same with Pelusium.
Hence the Targums of Jerusalem and Jonathan, and the Sy-
riac interpreter upon Gen. x. 14, for OMIMDD Caphtorim, read
ΝΡ ΤΊΒΡ Cappadokia; but the Arabic reads Damiatenos; and
the Seventy, upon Deut. ii. 23, for “ The Caphtorim going
out of Caphtor,” read Οἱ Καππάδοκες ἐξελθόντες ἐκ Καππα-
δοκίας, “ The Cappadocians going out of Cappadocia.”
The Targum upon Jer. xlvii. 4, for MINDS “N 51...) “ The
remnant of the coun of Caphtor,” hath "Npwipp M2 AN
‘of Kapotokia.” Where Kimchi saith, “ R. Saadias inter-
plow Caphtor SWNT Damiata.”
DIN ADIN DEIN NYWOIWIT NOIMON WN “ These '
rortls were written upon the gate of Pelusium; ‘ Anpak,
Anbag, Antal.” Which were the names of some measures,
that it might be known to all, that they were to buy and sell
according to that measure.
Secr. I1I.—Casiotis.
We now go on from Pelusium to mount Casius: so Pliny ;
“From Pelusium, the trenches of Chabrias*. Mount Casius,
the temple of Jupiter Casius. The tomb of Pompey the
Great,” &e.
Casius! was distant about three hundred furlongs from
Pelusium (in Antoninus it is forty miles), and the lake of Sir-
bon was twenty- eight miles from Casius. Thus Pliny’s sixty-
five miles arise from ‘ Pelusium to the ending of Arabia.’
Casius, in Ptolemy, is written Κάσσιον, ‘Cassion, and Kao-
σιῶτις, “ Cassiotis,’ with a double s ; and so also it is in Dion
Cassius, who adds this story :—
‘“ Pompey ™ died at mount Cassius, on that very day
whereon formerly he had triumphed over Mithridates and
the pirates. Kai eis πάντας τοὺς πολίτας τοὺς Κασσίους ὑπὸ
χρησμοῦ τινὸς ὑποπτεύσας, &e. “ And when, from a certain
oracle, he had suspicion of the Cassian nation, no Cassian
i Bab. Bathr. 58. 2. | Strab. ubi ante. Tabb. Asie,
k Of Chabrias, see Diod. Sic. ς. 5.
pag. (mihi) 347. τὰ Dion. Cas. lib. xlii.
Casiotis. Rhinocorura. Country of the Avites. 406
laid wait for him, but he was slain and buried at the moun-
tain of that name.”
Those words of Moses do rack interpreters, Exod. xvii. τό:
ry DD by T Jad Al Cas-jah. The Seventy render it,
Ἔν χειρὶ κρυφαίᾳ πολεμεῖ Κύριος, ‘“* The Lord wars with a se-
eret hand.’ All other versions almost render it to this sense,
“The hand upon the throne of the Lord.” So the Sama-
ritan, Syrian, Arabic, Vulgar, and the Rabbins,—that is,
‘God hath sworn.’
What if TDD Cas-jah be Casiotis? For that country was
the country of the Edomites, but especially of the Ama-
lekites, concerning whom Moses treats in that history. We
will not too boldly depart from the common consent of all,
and we do modestly and humbly propound this conjecture :
which if it may take any place, the words may there be ren-
dered, without any scruple or knot, to this sense, “* The hand
of the Lord is against Cassiotis,” (the country of the Ama-
lekites ; for) “the Lord hath war with Amalek from genera-
tion to generation.”
Secr. 1V.—Rhinocorura. The Arabie Interpreter noted.
We are now come to the river Sichor ; éalled ‘ the river of
Egypt;’ not because it was within the Egyptian territories,
but because it was the Jews’ limits towards Egypt. There,
heretofore, was ‘ Rhinocorura. Whence the Seventy, in Isa.
XXvil. 12, render O° ὑπο την “Unto the river of Egypt,”
Ἕως “Ρινοκορούρων, * Unto the Rhinocoruri.” I suppose
the Arabic interpreter imitated them, and writ first “VW5
Corura ; but that at last a little point™ crept in into the
last letter, and so it was changed from r into ἢ. So that
now we read 5, which is sounded Coronis, in the Latin
interpreter.
Sect. V.°—The country of the Avites: a part of the
new Idumea.
Passine the river, we enter into new Idumea, anciently the
region of the Avites; in the Holy Scripture called Hazerim,
Deut. ii. 23: in the eastern interpreters, Raphia: in Pliny,
n Leusden’s edition, vol.ii. p. 399. ° English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 292.
206 Chorographical decad.
Rhinocorura, and Raphia Inwards. Sometimes also in the
Holy Seripture it is called Shur; and instead of it, in those
interpreters, it 15. called ‘Chagra.’ Whence is the name of
mount Angaris concerning which Pliny speaks,—‘“ Gaza, and
inwards Anthedon, mount Angaris.” For when the Syrians
pronounced ‘ Chaggara,’ the Greeks would sound a double
Gamina by ἢ and g, and would say ‘ Angara.’
Shur also is sometimes rendered by the eastern inter-
preters mort Chaluzzah, as the Jerusalem Targum upon
Gen. xvi. 7; and Jonathan upon Exod. xv. 22. The Arabie
so renders Gerarim, Gen. xx. 1; and Jonathan, Bared, Gen.
xvi.14. Bared indeed, which signifies Aai/, you call in Greek
χάλαζα : and whether the Targumists use the Greek word,
when they render it Chaluzah, let the reader judge.
Shur, sometimes in the Syriac interpreter, is WW Sud, as
Exod. xv. 22; the point for difference in the last letter being
placed amiss. In Gen. xvi. 7,14, Shur and Bared are ren-
dered by them Gedar, instead of Gerar, by the same error.
Bared in the Arabic is Jared there, with two points placed
under the first letter instead of one.
The country of the Avites, call it by what name you will,
ended at Gaza, being stretched out thither in length, from
the river of Kgypt, forty-four miles. But the Idumea which
we seek ended not there, but extended itself farther into
Judea, swallowing up, under the name, that whole breadth of
the land, from the Mediterranean sea to the sea of Sodom,
according to the length of it.
Srcr. VI.—The whole portion of Simeon within Idumea.
Ir swallowed up, first, the whole portion of Simeon, a
great part of which was contained within the country of the
Avites ; but not a small part also extended itself farther into
Judea. Mention is made of his ‘ fourteen cities,’ Josh. xix.
if you tell them one by one; but they are said to be only
thirteen, ver.6; where the LX X make an even number, while
they take Ww Sharuhen, not for a eity, but render it, Οἱ
ἀγροὶ αὐτῶν, as if they had read Ww ‘ their fields. But
Sheba seems rather to be one and the same with Beersheba ;
and so the number is made equal.
The southern country of Judea. 207
Secr. VIL—The whole southern country of Judea within
Idumea.
Iv swallowed up also the whole country of south Judea,
which was more generally marked out by two names, NOW
asnnm ony «The Upper and the Nether South: morep
᾿ particularly and diffusively, as some of the Jews please, it is
divided into seven parts; 1. OWT 2. 2) 3. jon 4.0)
5. 1. 6. YIN 7. OMI or OD and sometimes 7379
on.
So that when the Holy Scripture divides the south of
Judea from Idumea, Num. xxxiv, and Josh. xv,—we must
know that dividing line now is broken, and all the south of
Judea is called Idumea. But here, by the way, I cannot but
note the Arabic interpreter, who renders Edom, in Josh. xv. 1,
by OV OS Rome :—by what authority let himself look to it;
so let the Jews do too, who commonly call the ‘ Romans,’
‘ Kdomites.’
How much this New Idumea shot itself into Judea is not
to be defined ; since it admitted indeed no limits, but where
either the force or fraud of that nation could not thrust itself
in farther. If you betake yourself to Josephus, here and
there speaking of that nation, you would think that it ex-
tended almost as far as Hebron. Thence, perhaps, were
those endeavours of some, of4 freeing the hill-country of
Judea from tithing. Of which endeavour we can scarce con-
ceive another reason, than that that country was now too
much turned heathen, and tithes should not be taken from
heathens. For these Idumeans were but a remove from hea-
then: they had passed into the Jewish rites; but they were
neither friends to the Jews nor to their religion.
Seer. VIII.*—Of the third Palestine, or Palestine called
‘the Healthful.’
Wate I am thinking of this New Idumea, I have a suspi-
cion whether the ‘ third Palestine,’ which is also ealleds « the
Healthful, may not be understood of this very part of Pales-
P Hieros. Sanhedr. fol. 18. 4. τ Enylish folio edition, vol. ii. p.
Beresh. Rabba, §. 52. 2
93:
« Hieros. Demai, fol. 24. 4. 5. In Notit. Imper. Orient.
908 Chovographical decad.
tine; and, while I think upon it, I doubt again of the division
of Palestine into two parts, in the code of Justinian and
Theodosius ; and into three parts in the Notitia.
Int the edict of Theodosius and Valentinian are these
words; “ Judzeorum Primates, qui in utriusque Palestine
Synhedriis dominantur, vel in aliis provinciis degunt, periculo
suo anniversarium canonem de synagogis omnibus, Palatinis
compellentibus, exigant ad eam formam, quam patriarche
quondam, coronarii auri nomine, postulabant,” &e. “ The
chief of the .Jews, who were over the Sanhedrims in both
Palestines, or live in other provinces,” &e.
The mention of “ both Palestines’ seems plainly to exclude
a threefold division; or at least to conclude, that there were
no Sanhedrims in the third part. For without all scruple, the
‘Notitia Imperii’ gives us a ‘ third part,’ in which are ranked,
“Under the disposition of the worthy man, the Earl of the
East, these provinces underwritten :
Palestine.
Pheenice.
Syria.
Cyprus.
Palestine the second».
Palestine the Healthful.
Pheenice of Libanus.”
And Justinian* hath these words; ‘‘ When all Palestine
formerly was one, it was afterward divided into three parts.”
The head of the first the same emperor assigns to be
Czesarea; Gulielmus TyriusY to be Jerusalem: and concern-
ing the second and third, he and Pancirolus do not agree.
For the metropolis of the second, according to Tyrius, is
Ceesarea,—and Seythopolis of the third :—according to Pan-
cirolus, Samaria is the metropolis of the second,—and Jeru-
salem of the third.
On the credit of Justinian, you may with good reason sup-
pose the first to be that, whose head is Caesarea; the second,
reason itself will persuade us to have been that of Jerusalem;
and where you will go to seek the third, 1, for my part,
© Cod. lib. i. tit. de Jud. et czlic. x Novel. 103. 7
Ὁ, 1: y De Bell. Sacr. lib. xi. cap. 2.
" Leusden’s edition, vol. 11. p. 400.
Healthful Palestine. 209
know not, if not in this our Idumea. It is not indeed to
be dissembled, that, in the Notitia Imperii, in the scheme
adorned with the pictures of the Roman garrisons, Jordan is
painted running between them, five being placed on this side,
and eight on that. So that it may seem that the country
beyond Jordan was the third part. But I shall not dispute
here, whether that be not in part to be disposed under the
governor of Syria or Arabia; but there are some things
which seem to favour such an opinion, partly in the Notitia
itself, but especially in the authors alleged.
If, therefore, I may be allowed my conjecture concerning
this New Idumea, then some answer may be given about the
Sanhedrims of both Palestines, in the meantime not denying
the threefold division of it. We must consider, indeed, that
there were councils or Sanhedrims in the times of Theedosius
and Valentinian, &c. They were, in times past, in that Pales-
tine whose head was Ceesarea, and in that Palestine whose
head was Jerusalem: but not in that Idumea concerning
which we speak, whose head, whether ye state it to be Gaza
or Ascalon, or Eleutheropolis, concerning which Jerome so
often speaks, and perhaps Bereshith Rabba 7, we do not
define.
Mention indeed occurs in the Talmudists of DIV ὩΡῚ and
ΜΔ ΥἽ “ The southern Rabbins;” but not so called, because
they dwelt in the furthest southern parts of Judea, for those
of Jafne and Lydda had that name, but because Judea was
south of Galilee. For the Rabbins of Tiberias give them
that title.
But, whatsoever at last that ‘ Third Palestine’ was, no less
seruple arises why it was ealled ‘ Salutaris,’ the ‘ Healthful.’
Pancirolus will have it to be from the wholesome waters:
and he learned from Sozomen4, that they ran from Emmaus
into Judea, namely, that fountain where Christ washed his
disciples’ feet: ‘‘ from whence the water (to use his words),
facta est diversarum medicamen passionum, became medicinal
for divers distempers.”
But besides that that story savours enough of fable, the
word Hmmaus, if | may be judge, deceived its first author,
which indeed sometimes is written for Ammaus, denoting
z In sect. 42. SONI Ai 6. 21.
LIGHTFOOT, VOL. I. P
210 Chorographical decad.
** hot baths,” and translates the word Chammath into Greek
pronunciation ; but he, whosoever was the first author of it,
had scarcely found that town of Judea called Emmaus, written
by the Jews MAM Chammath, but DINDY or DNDN Am-
maus, very far from the signification of ‘ warm baths.’
To> this add also, that mention is made in the same No-
titia, of Galatia Salutaris, or the ‘ Healthful ;? and there is a
distinction between Macedonia and Macedonia the Health-
ful; Phrygia Pacatiana, and Phrygia the Healthful; Syria
of Euphrates, and Syria the Healthful. In all which it will
be somewhat hard to find medicinal waters: and the exam-
ples which the author alleged produceth concerning some of
them are so incredulous, that I would be ashamed to relate
them after him.
I should rather think these countries so called from the
companies and wings of the Roman army, called ‘ Salutares :’
for mention is made, in the same Notitia, of ‘ Ala Salutis,’
‘the wing of health,’ or safety; as‘ Ala secunda Salutis,’
‘the second wing of safety,’ under the duke of Phcenice; or
perhaps the best appointed and strongest garrisons of the
Romans, and such as conduced most to the safety and peace
of the whole country, had their stations there. And in this
our Idumea, which we suppose to be the Third Palestine, or
Salutaris, were placed, and that out of the greater muster-
1011:
“The Dalmatian horse of Illyria, αὖ Berosaba,’
Beersheba.
“The shield-bearing horse of Illyria, at Chermula,” or in
Carmel, where Nabal dwelt.
“The promoted horse, inhabitants at Zodeeath ;” which 1
suspect to be the eave of Zedekiah, concerning which the
Talmudists speak.
“The javelin-bearing horse, inhabitants at Zoar.” But
let these things be left in suspense.
And now to return thither whence this whole dispute was
raised, when it is said by St. Mark, that “a great multitude
followed Jesus from Galilee and Judea, and Jerusalem, and
from Idumea, and from beyond Jordan;” he retains the
known and common division of the land of Israel at that
;
or in
Ὁ English folio edition, vol. i. p. 294.
The wilderness. 211
time, although not in the same terms. The division was into
mart Judea, and bby Galilee: and [aa desma ess The
country beyond Jordan. ”—‘ Galilee and the country beyond
Jordan,’ he expresseth in terms: and for Judea in general, he
names the parts of it, Jerusalem and Judea, as distinguished
from Idumea, and Idumea as the south part of Judea.
CHAP» IE.¢
I. Ἔρημος. The wilderness, of different signification. II. 33ND
MM The wilderness of Judah. 111. A scheme of Asphal-
tites, and the wilderness of Judah, or of adjacent Idumea.
IV. ἜἜρημος ᾿Ιουδαίας, The wilderness of Judea where John
the Baptist was. V. Μέλι ἄγριον, Wild honey, Mark i. 6.
VI. Περίχωρος τοῦ ᾿Ιορδάνου, The region about Jordan,
Matt. iii. 5.
Srecr. I.—The wilderness: Mark i. 4, 12.
Tue word ἔρημος, wilderness, stops us in a wilderness, if it is
of so various and doubtful signification.
1. Sometimes it denotes only the fields, or the country
in opposition to the city ; which we observed at Matt. iii. 1:
where if any one be displeased that I rendered ‘ Seah of the
wilderness’ by ‘ the country Seah,’ when it might be ren-
dered, and perhaps ought, ‘ the Seah which the Israelites
used when they encamped in the wilderness,’ let him, if he
please, take another example for it.
ΓΙ ΩΣ ΣΝ PUMw ΚΡ Pr “ They4 do not water
and kill the cattle of the wilderness.” The Gloss is, “It was
usual to water cattle before killing them, that they might the
more easily be flayed. MINYAT NS ΡΟ bow But they
water domestic [or tame] cattle. And these are NV279
cattle of the wilderness, those that go out to pasture in time of
the Passover, and return home at the first rain, that is, in
the month Marchesvan. Rabba saith, These are cattle of the.
wilderness, ἜΘ Γ mw b all that feed in the meadows and.
come not home.” The Gloss is, MOM IAN AY DID “ The:
cattle of the wilderness are those that are abroad in the
fields.”
© Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 401.
d Schab. fol. 45. 2. Bezah, fol. 40. 1.
212 Chorographical decad.
Il. The word ΣΤ “‘ the wilderness,” denotes a champaign
country, where one man’s ground is not distinguished from
another’s by fences.
“'Theye do not breed up smaller cattle in the land of
Israel, but in Syria they do. “Ns by ΓΞ 23 And in
the wildernesses of the land of Israel’.” Where the Gloss
thus: “ They do not breed such cattle in the land of Israel,
that they feed not down the fields: now the fields in the land
of Israel do belong, without doubt, to some Israelite.” But
they fed in the deserts; that is, where field was not distin-
guished from field, but all was common. Hence you may
understand what is signified by the desert of Ziph, of Maon,
of Tekoah, &c.; namely, a region or country near to cities,
where also were scattered houses; but especially, either
champaign, where no fences were to make distinction of
lands ; or mountainous, and that which was barren and with-
out improvement.
III. There is no need to speak of the deserts that were
altogether desolate and without inhabitant; such as the
deserts of Arabia, of Libya, &c.
Seer. 11.- ΤΥ ΓΤ 327 The wilderness of Judah.
Pernars I shall be laughed at if I distinguish between
the wilderness of Judah and the wilderness of Judea. And
formerly such a distinction did deserve laughter; but when
the name of Idumea, as I have shewed, swallowed up a great
part of Judea, then it was not only to be borne with, but
necessary also, to distinguish between the wilderness of Judah,
of which Josh. xv. 61, and the title of Psal. Ixili, and the wil-
derness of Judea where John baptized.
The title of that Psalm in the original Hebrew is thus,
TAM aM. Inia py ‘ai “ A Psalm of David
when he was in ΤΟΙ desert of Judah.” But the Greek inter-
preters render it, ‘“‘A Psalm of David when he was ἐν τῇ
ἐρήμῳ τῆς ᾿Ιδουμαίας, in the wilderness of Idumea.” And the
Vulgar, “ A Psalm of David when he was in the desert of
Idumea :” acting the part of no good interpreters, but of no
ill paraphrasts. So Jer ix. 26; DIN by mm by” Ent
᾿Ιδουμαίαν, καὶ ἐπὶ ᾿Εδώμ: “ Upon Idumea, and upon Edom.”
© English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 295. f Baya Kama, fol. 79. 2.
The wilderness of Judah. 213
If you ask where David was when he composed that
Psalm, it is answered (1 Sam. xxiv. 1), ‘ In the wilderness
of En-gedi :” and if you search further for the precise place,
it was there where the castle Masada was afterward built.
For I doubt not at all, that that place, as Josephus® describes
it, was the same with aby “M7z “6 the rocks of the wild
goats.” [1 Sam. xxiv.3.] ῦ
I appeal here to the maps and their authors, in whom
‘ En-gedi’ and ‘ Masada’ (and ‘ Lot’s cave’) are placed not
very far from the utmost north coast of Asphaltites: let
them say whether Idumea stretched out itself so far. If not,
let them correct the interpreters whom we have named; and
though it be so, they might show by what authority they
place those places there, and let them friendly correct me
putting them far elsewhere.
Secr. II]—A scheme of Asphaltites, and of the wilderness
of Judah, or Idumea adjacent.
Web» are now indeed out of our bounds; but we hope
not out of the bounds of truth. Therefore, in one or two
words, we thus confirm the situation that we have assigned
to these places:
I. In Gen. x. 19, Gaza and Sodom are made to lie in a
parallel line.
II. Lasha is Callirrhoe. So Jonathan renders yd W
“ unto Lasha,’ mad ty “unto Callirrhoe.’ So also Bere-
shith Rabbah‘, and the Jerusalem Talmudists Κ, in the places
cited at the margin.
You have the situation of it in Pliny, on the same coast
with Macherus. ‘“ Arabia! of the Nomades looks upon
Asphaltites on the east,—Macherus, on the south. On the
same side is Callirrhoe, a warm spring, of a medicinal whole-
someness.”
And now let it be observed, from the place alleged out
of Genesis, that, after the same manner as Sidon and Gaza,
the limits on the west part, are placed, so are Sodom and
Lasha seated on the east, one on the south, and the other
& De Bell. lib. vii. cap. 13. i Sect: 37.
h English folio edit, vol. ii. p. 296. kK Megill. fol. 71. 2.
—Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 402. 1 Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 16.
214 Chorographical decad.
on the north; and the other cities stood in this order: from
Lasha, southward, Zeboim; after it, Admah; after it, Go-
morrah; and after it, on the utmost southern coast, Sodom.
III. The Asphaltites, saith Josephus™, is extended in
length, Μέχρι Ζοάρων τῆς ᾿Αραβίας, “ unto Zoar of Arabia ;”
and, Deut. xxxiv. 3, Moses, from mount Nebo, beheld Zoar
from the utmost bounds of the land on that side, as he had
beheld the utmost bounds of it from other sides.
IV. En-gedi is Hazezon-tamar; so the Targum of Onkelos
in Gen. xiv. 7: see 2 Chron. xx. 2; and Tamar was the
utmost south border: Ezek. xlvii. 19; TAN 7D ry ἣν
V. “ The border of Judea (saith Solinus°) was the castle
Masada. And that not far from Asphaltites P.”
Josephus4 indeed saith, that this castle was οὐ πόρρω
Ἱεροσολύμων, “not far from Jerusalem ;” which seems to
thwart me in placing it as I have done. But, besides that
we might contend about that reading, when it is very usual
with historians to use the words οὐ πόρρω, and ἐγγὺς, “ not
far off,’ and ‘ near,’ in a very wide and loose sense,—one
ean hardly build any thing upon this. So Solinus™; “ Cal-
lirrhoe is a fountain very near Jerusalem ;” when yet how
far off was it! And in Strabo’, Lecheus is λιμὴν τῆς ᾿Ιταλίας
ἐγγὺς, “a port near Italy ;” when yet it was distant many
hundreds of miles.
Masada in Hebrew is TWN Aatsadah, which implies t
fortification: and that with good reason, when that castle was
fortified even to a miracle. The name is taken from 1 Sam.
O01) 17. 10: [ity | where the Seventy, the Syriac, and
Arabie seem to have read 772%) with Ἢ (Resh), and not with
+ (Daleth). For they read in the former place, ἐν τοῖς στε-
vois, “in the strait places;” and in the latter, ἐν Μασερὲμ,
“in Maserem” (otherwise Ματσερὲθ, Masereth), ἐν τοῖς στέ-
vois, “in the strait places.” The Syriac and Arabic read
Masroth ; as though they had read in the original MWY.
ΓΞ, So Josephus"; Αὐτὸς (Δαβίδης) μετὰ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ
m De Bell. lib. iv. cap. 27. τ Solin. in the place above.
n Bereshith Rabba, sect. 26. 5. Geogr. lib. 8.
© Solin. cap. 38. t Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 403.
P Plin. lib. v. cap. 17. u Antiq. lib. vi. cap. 14. [Hud-
4 De Bell. lib.iv. cap. 24. [iv.7.2.] son, p. 264. 1. 47.] [vi. 13. 4.
The wilderness of Judea. Q15
εἰς τὴν Μασθηρῶν ἀνέβη στένην" “ He (David), with those that
were with him, went up to the strait place of Mastheri.”
Secor. IV. The wilderness of Judea, where John
Baptist was.
Tuus far we have launched out into the wilderness of Ju-
dah, or Idumea; and that the more willingly, because in de-
scribing it, I have described also some part of New Idumea,
of which discourse was had in the chapter aforegoing. Now
we seek ἔρημος ᾿Ιουδαίας, “ the wilderness of Judea,” concern-
ing which the Gospels speak in the history of the Baptist.
I. And first, we cannot pass it over without observation,
that it was not only without prophetical prediction that he
first appeared preaching in the wilderness, Isa. xl. 3, but
it was not without a mystery also. For when the heathen
world is very frequently in the prophets called ‘ the wilder-
ness,’ and God promiseth that he would do glorious things
to that wilderness, that he would produce there pools of
waters, that he would bring in there all manner of fruit-
fulness, and that he would turn the horrid desert into the
pleasure of a paradise (all which were to be performed in a
spiritual sense by the gospel); it excellently suited even in
the letter with these promises, that the gospel should take
its beginning in the wilderness.
II. I, indeed, think the Baptist was born in Hebron, a
eity of Aaron, in the hill-country of Judea, Josh. xxi. 11,
Luke i. 5, 39; he being an Aaronite by father and mother.
The house of his cradle is shown to travellers elsewhere ;
concerning which, inquire whether Beth Zachariah, men-
tioned in Josephus*, and the Book of the Maccabees νυ,
afforded not a foundation to that tradition. It was distant
from Bethsura only seventy furlongs, or thereabouts, as may
be gathered from the same Josephus (by which word the
Seventy render 2 South Beth-el in 1 Sam. xxx. 27); and
whether the situation does not agree, let them inquire who
please.
A little cell of his is also shewed further in the wilderness,
as it is called, of Judea, cut out of a rock, together with his
x Antiq. lib.xii. cap. 14.[xii. 9. 4.] 2 English folio edition, vol. ii. p.
y 1 Macc. vi. 33. 297.
216 Chorographical decad.
bed, and a fountain running by; which we leave to such as
are easy of belief: the wilderness certainly where he preached
and baptized is to be sought for far elsewhere.
III. Luke saith, that “ the word of the Lord eame to
John in the wilderness, καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς πᾶσαν περίχωραν τοῦ
Ἰορδάνου. and he went into all the country about Jordan.”
He sojourned from wilderness to wilderness. In the wilder-
ness, in the hill-country of Judea, he passed his youth as a
private man; not as an eremite, but employed in some work
or study; and assumed nothing of austerity, besides Naza-
riteship, before the thirtieth year of his age. Then the Spirit
of propheey came upon him, and “ the word of the Lord came
unto him,” teaching him concerning his function and office,
instructing him about his food and clothing, and directing
him to the place where he should begin his ministry.
The region about Jericho was that place, or that country,
that lay betwixt that city and Jordan, and so on this side of
it and on that about the same space; also on this side Jeri-
cho, towards Jerusalem. A country very agreeable to the
title which the evangelists give it, and very fit for John’s
ministry. For,
I. It was sufficiently desert, according to what is said,
“ John came preaching in the wilderness.”
“The space (saith Josephus 4) from Jericho to Jerusalem,
is desert and rocky; but towards Jordan and the Asphaltites,
more level, but as desert and barren.” And Saligniae writes ;
“ The> journey from Jerusalem is very difficult, stony, and
very rough; the like to which I do not remember I have
seen. Jericho is distant from Jordan almost ten miles,” &e.
II. This country might, for distinction, be called ‘ the
wilderness of Judea, because other regions of Judea had
other names: as, ‘ The King’s mountain,’ ‘ The plain of the
South,’ ‘ The plain of Lydda,’ ‘ The valley from En-gedi,’
‘ The region about Betharon®,” &e.
ΠῚ. Although that country were so desert, yet it abounded
very much with people. For, besides that abundance of vil-
lages were scattered here and there in it, 1. Jericho itself
was the next city to Jerusalem in-dignity. 2. There were
a De Bello, lib. iv. cap. 27. [iv. b Tom. ix. cap. 5.
Ι
8. 3.] © Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 38. 4.
ive)
Wild honey. ALG
always twelve thousand men in it, of the courses of the
priests. 3. That way was daily trodden by a very numerous
multitude, partly of such who travelled between those cities,
partly of such who went out of other parts of Judea, and
likewise out of the land of Ephraim into Perea, and of them
who went out of Perea into those countries. 4. John began
his ministry about the time of the Passover, when a far
greater company flocked that way.
IV. This country was very convenient for food and pro-
vision, in regard of its wild honey; of which let me say a
few things.
Secr. V.—Médu ἄγριον" wild honey ; Mark i. 6.
Wuen it is so often repeated in the Holy Scripture, that
God gave to his people Israel “a land flowing with milk
and honey,” hence, 1. One would conclude that the whole
land flowed with it ; and, 2. Hence one would expect infinite
hives of bees. But hear what the Talmudists say of these
things :
“Τὸ, Jonah ἃ saith, The land flowing with milk and honey
is the land, some part of which flows with milk and honey.”
And that part, they say, is in Galilee: for thus they speak ;
“ For sixteen miles every way from Zippor is a land flowing
with milk and honey :” of which thing and country we shall
speak elsewhere.
“ R. Josef of Galilee saith, They bring not the first-fruits
out of the country which is beyond Jordan, because that is
not the land flowing with milk and honey.” And he that
brought the first-fruits was to say, “ The Lord gave us this
land flowing with milk and honey; and now I have brought
the first-fruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given
me.” Deut. xxvi. 9,10.
But that part that flowed, how did it flow with honey ?
Learn that from Rambam upon the place: ‘“ When he saith
‘and honey,’ he understands DAN bw war the honey of
palms. For the palm trees, which are in the plain and in
the valleys, abound very much with honey.”
There was honey also distilling from the fig-trees. “ R.
4 Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 404. © Hieros. Biccurim, fol. 64. 2.
f Biccurim, cap. 1. hal. 15.
218 Chorograph ical decad.
Jacobs Ben 3NHOW Dositheus saith, I went on a certain
time from Lydda to Ono before day-break, up to the ancles
in the honey of figs.”
This is the μέλι ἄγριον, “ the wild honey, of which the
evangelists speak, as of the Baptist’s food. And how con-
venient for this the region about Jericho was, which was
called) ‘The country of palm-trees,’ is clear to every eye.
Diodorus Siculusi hath these words of a certain nation of
Arabians: Φύεται αὐτοῖς τὸ πέπερι ἀπὸ τῶν δένδρων, Kal μέλι
πολὺ τὸ καλούμενον ἄγριον, ᾧ χρῶνται ποτῷ μὲν ὕδατος" “ΠΟΥ
have pepper from the trees, and much honey, called wild
honey, which they use to drink with water.” Whether it
were also as plentiful in locusts we do not say; certainly,
in this also it gave place to no country, if either barrenness
or fruitfulness served for the breeding them: for Jericho and
the adjacent parts was like a garden of pleasure in the midst
of a desert. Certainly, the place was very convenient for that
great work to be performed by the Baptist; that is, bap-
tizing in Jordan.
Secr. VI.—Tlepixwpos τοῦ ᾿Ιορδάνου: ““ The region round
about Jordan.” Matt. i. 5.
Here that of Borchard is not unuseful: ‘“ Knows, that
from the rise of Jordan under Libanus, unto the desert of
Pharan, almost a hundred miles, Jordan itself, on both
shores, hath spacious and pleasant fields, which are com-
passed behind with very high mountains.” The truth of
which, if his eyes had not experienced it, he might have
learned from Josephus, who speaks thus :
“Over! Jericho hangs a mountain stretched forth north-
ward, even to the country of Scythopolis; and southward to
the country of Sodom, and the utmost borders of the Asphal-
tites. It is craggy, and not habitable by reason of barren-
ness. Against it runs out a mountain near Jordan, beginning
at Julias, and the north country, and stretched out south-
ward unto Gomorrah, where it bounds the rock of Arabia.
The middle between these two mountainous regions is called
& Chetub. fol. 111. 2. k Borch. cap. 7. 26.
h English folio edition, vol. i. 1 Jos. de Bell. lib. iv. cap. 27.
γ. 298 [ Hudson, p. 1193.] [iv. 8. 2.]
} 2 e
i Diod. Sic. lib. xix.
Region round about Jordan. 219
Μέγα πέδιον, The great plain, extended from the town Gin-
nabri into the Asphaltites: in length twelve hundred furlongs,
in breadth one hundred and twenty. Καὶ μέσον ὑπὸ τοῦ ᾽1ορ-
davov τέμνεται, and ἐξ is cut in the middle by Jordan.” The
plain of Jordan before the overthrow of Sodom, &e. Gen. xix.
[25.] is περίχωρος, ‘the country about it,’ in the Seventy.
Those words teach what is περίχωρος Ιορδάνου, “ the
region about Jordan:” and the word πᾶσα, ‘all,’ added by
the evangelist, may persuade us that the further side may
also be taken in, especially if it be considered how small a
distance the river made. The space was so little, that, as the
Gemarists relate, “ἃ πὶ fire kindled on one side reached over
to the other.” And they suppose, water on this side might
be spirted to the other, in that caution: “ Let™ no man take
the waters of purification and the ashes of purification, and
earry them beyond Jordan; nor let him stand on this side,
and spirt to the other.”
However, the river was not so broad, but that two, stand-
ing on each bank, might look upon one another, cast some-
thing over from the one side to the other, yea, and talk
together. And then think, whether the inhabitants of the
further side resorted not to the Baptist, being so near him,
and, as it were, within sight of him.
The masters dispute, whether Jordan be to be esteemed
as ‘ the bounds of the land of Israel,’ or as ‘ the land itself ;’
and the occasion of that dispute ariseth from another ques-
tion, namely this: The flock of one man is separated and
divided into two parts, and those two parts feed in distant
places: it is asked, Whether tithe is to be taken as of one
flock, or two? Hence the discussion of the point glides to
Jordan; one part of the flock is on this side Jordan, the
other on the other. If Jordan be to be esteemed for ‘the
bounds of the land, then one part is within the land, the
other without. But if it be to be reputed for ‘ the land
itself, then the business is otherwise. Among other things
in this dispute,
“ Saith° Rabbah Bar Bar Channah, R. Jochanan saith
m Hieros. Bava Kama, fol. 5. 3. n Bah. Jevamoth, fol. 116. 2.
© Becoroth, fol. 55.1.
Φ90 Chorographical decad.
sands Wry Map shay ity ΤΣ Jordan is not, but inwards
from Jericho, and beneath it.” You would think me more
skilful than a diver, to fetch this seeret from the bottom.
‘Jordan is not Jordan above Jericho,’ is a paradox that
vexes the Glossers themselves, much more therefore may
it me. One understands the thing according to the bare
letter; for “he that voweth (saith he) that he will not
drink of Jordan, may drink above Jericho.” Another under-
stands it of Jericho, as being a bounds, yea, as the bounds
named below Jericho only; Josh. xviii. 20. We make no
tarrying upon the business. But if Jordan had such a limita-
tion, that Jordan was not aboveP Jericho, 7) περίχωρος ’lop-
davov, ‘The region about Jordan, is to be understood in the
same limitation, namely, that it is only below Jericho. See
the Seventy on Gen, xiii. 10, 12.
The masters, sifting this business, out of one scruple move
another; for they speak these words; “‘ Jordan floweth out
of the cave of Paneas, goes along by the Sibbechean sea, by
the sea of Tiberias, by the sea of Sodom, ob bs Bie pa
bya and passeth on, and glides into the Great sea ; YTV) PS)
mons Wy mas ΜΌΝ but Jordan is not but inwards from
Jericho, and below it.’ Let any shew me where Jordan
flows out of the sea of Sodom into the Mediterranean. The
river Shihor, earrying blackness in its name, may’ be taken
for it, if it be any other; but neither does this appear con-
cerning it.
While you see multitudes gathered together to John, and
gladly baptized in Jordan, without fear, without danger,
alas, how much was Jordan changed from that Jordan in
that story of Saligniac! *‘ Jordan (saith her), in which place
Christ was baptized, is famous for a ruinous building. Here,
therefore, all we pilgrims went into the holy river, and washed
our bodies and our souls; those from filth, and these from
sin; a matter of very great joy and health, had not an un-
happy accident disturbed our joys. For a certain physician,
a Frenchman, of our company, an honest man, going some-
thing further into the river, was caught with a crocodile
P Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 405. 4 English folio edit., vol. il. p. 299.
r Salign. tom. ix. cap. 6.
Various Corbans. Φ9]
(whether one should call it a dragon or a beast, it is un-
certain), and swallowed him up, not without the common
grief of our brethren.”
The wilderness also, where our Saviour underwent his forty
days’ temptation, was on the same bank of Jordan where the
baptism of John was; St. Luke witnessing it, that Jesus,
being now baptized, ὑπέστρεψεν ἀπὸ τοῦ ᾿Ιορδάνου, “returned
from Jordan,” namely, from the same tract whereby he came
thither.
CHAP. III.
I. Various Corbans. 11. PANE W Corban Chests. I. The
Corban spb Chamber. IV. Where the Γαζοφυλάκιον, the
Treasury, was. V.\ 7, Gad Javan in the Temple. VI.
Jerusalem, in Herodvtus, is Cadytis. VII. The streets of
Jerusalem. VAI. The street leading from the Temple towards
the Mount of Olivet.
Secr. 1.--- -Καζοφυλάκιον" the Treasury; Mark xii. 41.
Tuar which the Talmudists say of some other things,
YIN [Ww ΓΟ thats “they were two, which at last be-
came four,” may have place as to the Corbans, or holy trea-
suries. Theyt were ¢wo, as to their end; but fowr, as to the
despatch of them to that end.
There" was a Corban TANT arab jor the repair of the
building of the Temple; and there was a Corban AVY
Wap for the preparing such things as were necessary for
the divine service in the Temple. And both were two. The
duplicity of the former you have in this tradition :
;wWapN. ὙΠ mw snw “ There were two chambers in the
Temple. OSWM nov> The chamber of the silent [or of the
private]; where pious men offered privately; whence the
children of pious parents were nourished also privately ;”
that is, they did their charity secretly for this pious use,
that it might not be known who did it. There are some
who think these D°NWM scent ones, were the same with the
Essenes; of which we will not dispute: nor do we number
this charitable treasury among the Corbans, concerning
s Shevuoth, cap. 1. hal. 1. t Zevachin, fol. 54. 2.
u Shekalim, cap. 5. hal. 6.
222 “Chorographical decad.
which we are now treating; because it conferred nothing
to the business of the Temple. But the tradition goes
forward ;
sodon nowd) “ And there was the chamber of the
vessels, where whosoever offered any vessel laid it. And
after thirty days the treasurers opened the chambers; and
whatsoever vessel was found in it, which was useful to the
repairing of the building, was laid up for that use. And
whatsoever was not useful was sold; and the price of it
went MAN pI nw to the chamber for the repairing of
the house.”
You observe, how there was a ‘ Corban of vessels,’ or
instruments of iron, brass, silver, &c.; and a ‘ Corban of
money ; both for the same end, that is, for the repair of the
building and structure of the Temple and courts, if by some
means or other they might fall down, or might receive da-
mage by the injury of time, of tempests, or rains.
Maimonides adds, 6 Sy MIB The* veils of the Temple
also come out of the chamber for the repair of the building ;
but the veils of the doors out of the Corban ΓΘ chamber :
of which afterward.
Seer. ILy—nwpw The Corban chests.
Tere was also a double Corban, whence the charges of
things necessary for the divine worship were defrayed. The
first was TDW, or certain chests, of which thus the
masters :
SWI. TT NMS Ww ‘ys “ There? were thirteen chests in
the Temple, in which was written, PIN popn New shekels
[that is, of the present year], ΡΩΝ poon Old shekels { or,
shekels of the year past], Jj) Turtles, &e.
Maimonides* still more largely and plainly: “ In the
Temple were thirteen chests formed like trumpets ;” that is,
narrower below, and more broad above.
“ The first was for the shekels of the present year.
“The second» was for the shekels of the year past.
“The third, for those who were to bring an oblation of
x In Shekalim, cap. 4. fol 85. 2;
¥ English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 300. a In the place above, cap. 2.
5 Shekalim, cap. 6. hal. 5. Joma, Ὁ Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 406.
The Corban. 993
two turtles, or pigeons, one for a burnt-offering, the other for
a sacrifice for sin; the price of it they cast into this chest.
“ The fourth, for him who otherwise ought an oblation of
birds. The price of it he cast into this chest.
“ The fifth for him who voluntarily offered money to buy
wood for the altar.
“The sixth, for him who offered money to buy frankin-
cense.
“ The seventh, for him who offered gold for the mercy-
seat.
“The eighth, for that which remained of the sacrifice for
sin: namely, when one dedicated money for the sacrifice
for sin, and bought a sacrifice with it, and something re-
mained over and above, let him cast that into this chest.
“ The ninth, for that which remained of the sacrifice for
transgression.
“ The tenth, for that which remained of the pigeons for
the women that had fluxes, and that were delivered from
childbirth.
“ The eleventh, for that which remained of the oblations
of the Nazarite.
“ The twelfth, for that which remained of the sacrifice of
the leper.
“ The thirteenth, for him who offered moneys for the
burnt-offering of cattle.
“And upon each chest was written that for which the
money that was laid up in it was appointed.”
In one of these chests the widow, commended by our Sa-
viour, cast in her two mites: but where they were placed, we
will inquire by and by.
Sect. Π].-- The Corban sw chamber.
THERE was also a chamber in which whatsoever money
was collected in these chests, of which we have spoken,
was emptied out into three other chests ; which is called by
the Talmudists, emphatically and κατ᾽ ἐξοχὴν, saw, or the
chamber.
‘“‘ There® were three chests, each containing three seahs,
into which they empty the Corban, and on them were written
© Joma, fol. 64. 1.
994 Chorographical decad.
yay. And why, saith R. Jose, was Aleph, Beth, Gimel,
written upon them? namely, that it might be known which
of them was filled first, that it might first be emptied. R.
Ishmael saith, The inscription was in Greek, Alpha, Beta,
Gamma “.”
The chests which are here spoken of were those into
which the three greater were emptied, which always stood
unmovable in the chamber. The manner of the emptying
of which take from the words of the Gloss in the place al-
leged: ‘‘ Those chests in which the money was laid-up did
contain twenty seven seahs [each nine]; and they were covered
with a linen cloth. He who was to empty entered with three
chests containing nine seahs. He first filled the chest marked
8, out of the first of the three great chests ; and then covered
it with the linen cloth. Then he uncovered the second of
the great chests; and out of it he filled the second chest,
marked with 3; and covered it again. Then he uncovered the
third of the great chests, and filled the third chest, marked 3;
but covered not the other again,” &e.
Moreover, of the manner and time of this emptying, thus
the masters speak: “ Thrice* in a year T2W77 DN ΟΠ
they take care about the chamber” (for let me render it thus in
this place); that is, as the Gloss writes [out of the thirteen
chests they transferred whatsoever had been collected in
them into these three great ones, which were in this cham-
ber, and in like manner they emptied them into three less, of
which before], MDET DH “* About the space of half a
month before Passover, before Pentecost, and before the
Feast of Tabernacles: or, in the beginning of the month
Nisan, and of the month Tisri, and fifteen days before Pen-
tecost.”
Andf here I cannot but transcribe the words of the Glosser
in that place of the Talmud, which we are now upon, as not
a little illustrating the place in the Evangelists.
“ They published (saith he) and made known that they
should bring the oblation of the Lord (the half-shekel), they
that were near (to Jerusalem), at the Passover; and they
that were further off, at Pentecost; and they that were most
4 Shekalim, cap. 3. © Tbid.
f English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 301.
Where the treasury was. 225
remote, at the Feast of Tabernacles.” DWI Paonia pon
pam pam pom myy one. ppt pom nop
2AM OwpaThese words serve for a light to the story in
St. Matthew, chap. xvii., of the collectors of the Didrachm,
or half-shekel, requiring it of Christ at Capernaum, when the
feast of the Passover was now past a great while ago. But
we go on.
< He who went into tne chamber to empty the chest,
went not in with a folded garment, nor with shoes, nor with
sandals, nor with phylacteries, nor with charms,” &e. And
the reason was, that there might be no opportunity, and all
suspicion might be removed, of stealing and hiding any of
the money under them.
The money taken thence served to buy the daily sacrifice,
and the drink-offerings, salt, wood, frankincense, the show-
bread, the garments of the priests, and, in a word, whatsoever
was needful for the worship and service of the Temple.
Yea, “Rabhg Asa saith, o>wyya my Ny the judges
of things stolen, who were at Jerusalem, received as their sti-
pend ninety-nine manas aw ΤΙ Man out of the rent of
the chamber.”
Sect. 1V.— Where the Γαζοφυλάκιον, treasury, was.
We have searched out the things; now let us inquire after
the places.
I. Those thirteen chests, which were called MY IDW or
trumpets, we have fixed, without» all doubt, in the court of
the women: and that upon the credit of Josephus; Ai στοαὶ
δὲ μεταξὺ τῶν πυλῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους, ἔνδον ἐστραμμέναι TPO τῶν
γαζοφυλακίων, σφόδρα μὲν καλοῖς καὶ μεγάλοις ἀνείχοντο κιόσιν᾽
“The? walks (saith he, speaking of that court), running along
between the gates, extended inwardly from the wall before
the treasuries, were borne up with fair and great columns.”
To this let us add the words of the evangelist John, viii. 20:
“ These words spake Jesus ἐν τῷ γαζοφυλακίῳ, in the trea-
sury:—if it had been said, κατέναντι τοῦ γαζοφυλακίου, over-
against the treasury, which Mark saith, it might be under-
& Chetubh. fol. 105. 1. i De Beil. lib. v. cap. 14. [Huds.,
Ὁ Leusden’s edition, vol.ii. p. 401. p. 1226. 1. 39.] [v. 5. 2.]
LIGHTFOOT, VOL. I. Q
226 Chorograplical decad.
stood of one of the chambers of which we have spoken: which
sense the Arabic interpreter seems to follow: who renders it,
that “ Jesus sat Gls οὖς αὐ the gate of the treasury.” But
when it is said that he spake those words ἐν τῷ γαζφυ-
λακίῳ, in the treasury, those chambers are wholly excluded,
into which it would be ridiculous to think that they permitted
Christ to enter.
But note, the word Γαζοφυλακιών, traesuries, in Josephus,
is the plural number, and that he speaks of the court of the
women, and you will be past doubting that he respected these
chests under the word freasuries: and you will doubt as
little that Mark looked the same way when you shall have
observed that his speech is of the woman, how both she and
others cast money εἰς τὸ γαζοφυλάκιον, into the treasury ;
which, as appears from those things we have produced out of
the Talmudists, was neither customary, nor allowed to do into
other Corbans.
This court, indeed, is commonly called in the Jewish writers,
ὍΣ my the court of the women; not that women only
entered in there, but because women might not go further ;
in the same sense as the outward court is called ὁ the court
of the Gentiles,’ not that heathens only might enter there,
but because they might not go further. That court was also
most ordinarily called PAM AW the Mountain of the Temple ;
so this also whereof we are treating was called Γαζοφυλάκιον,
the treasury.
When, therefore, it is said by St. Mark that Jesus sat
κατέναντι τοῦ γαζοφυλακίου, over-against the treasury, it
comes to this, that he sat under the walk before which
those chests were placed. And when John saith, “ Jesus
spake these words in the treasury,” it is all one as if he had
said, ‘ He spake these words in the court of the women ;’
yea, in that place where those chests were, that that place
night be distinguished from others which were in that court;
for in every corner of that court there was a little court, each
one called by its own name, as appears in the places written
in the margin,
Il. To trace the situation of the rest of the Corbans, con-
cerning which we have made mention, is not now the busi-
k Middoth, cap. 7. hal. 5. Joma, fol. 16. 1.
Gad Javan in the Temple. Q27
ness before us; for that which was propounded as our task
we have despatched. But this we cannot but advise for the
reader’s sake, that on the north side of the court of Israel
was a gate which was called ‘ the Corban-gate!;’ yea, by
comparing the words of the masters, there seem to be two
gates of the same name: one of which if you make to belong
to that Corban-chamber, into which the money out of the
thirteen chests was emptied, and the other to belong ΤΠ)
PAT ΓΞ to that Corban that™ was appointed for the repair
and amending of the buiiding itself, perhaps you will not
mistake. Certainly you will not find any place more probable
in those writers.
Srcr. ν ἽΔ Gad Javan in the Temple.
In the Talmudic book Zavim" these words oecur obscure
enough: Mow) po aa pos sw wows ma 7 ΓΝ
“He saw one [woman] multiplied [or continued] like three,
which are as from Gad Javan to Siloah.” The thing dis-
coursed of is of the discovery of some profluvious issue. For
example, one discovers such a profluvious issue in himself,
now one by and by another, presently after a third ; it is dis-
puted how great or how little distance of time is to be as-
signed, to make it one or two profluviums; and consequently,
to how great or how small an oblation the party is bound for
his purification. The tradition which we have produced
comes to this: namely, if one sees such an issue at one time,
which is so continued, that it contains the space of three dis-
coveries ; that is, so much time as one might walk “ from
Gad Javan to Siloam, Δ 33 TM AMT behold!) such a man
is completely profluvious.”
The Glossers and the Aruch teach us what was "1
Gad Javan. Hear themselves; “ Gad Javan is a phrase
drawn from those words: wou 9 Dwr ‘That prepare
a table for that troop : (Isa. Ixv.11: where the LXX read,
ἐτοιμάζοντες τῷ Δαιμονίῳ τράπεζαν, ‘ preparing a table for
the devil.” The Vulgar reads, ‘ qui ponitis fortunze mensam,’
‘who set a table for fortune. The Interlinear, ‘ Jovi men-
sam,’ ‘a table for Jupiter.) And it is a place where the
! Middoth, in the place above, m English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 302.
hal. 6. n Cap. 1. hal. 5.
a2
228 Chorographical decad.
kings of Greecia erected an idol: as it is said in the book
Avodah Zarah, In the corner looking north-east the Asmo-
neans hid the stones of the altar, which the Greeks had pro-
faned with their idols.”
But whether these our interpreters suppose Gad Javan to
be that chamber where those stones lay hid, laid up there
by the Asmoneans when they repaired the altar, concerning
which place see if you please the place in the margin®; or
whether they suppose it to be the place itself where the idol
stood, inquire. But how much space it was thence, and what
way they went from thence to Siloam, I heartily wish they
had told us. They say only thus much of that matter, that
“it was so much space as one might walk while a man twice
bathed, and twice dried himself.”
Being now in the Temple we cannot but take notice of
a name of it usual P among the masters, namely, ΓΞ Birah,
that is, as the Aruch explains it, @ palace. ‘ If4 a mis-
chance in the night [or a gonorrhoea] happened to any Levite
going forth, PAM nan nsdn pron. 1b Fh Ae
went down into a secret walk which led away under Birah, or
the sanctuary, to a bath,” ὅθ. These things are related of
the second Temple. But elsewhere, when it is disputed
‘Whether men were better under the first. Temple or the
second,’ Rabba determines it, soy DTW? MMT WrvaA
osanns mmm = Birah may teach this which they had
that lived before; but they had not that lived after. If by
my. Birah, is to be understood the Temple itself, both they
that lived before and they that lived after had it; if some
particular part of the Temple, they that lived after had that
also, as appears from the places alleged. But by the thread
of the discourse in the place quoted, it seems, that by ΓΤ
Birah, Rabbah understood not the Temple itself, but the
glory of the ‘Temple, and those divine endowments of it, ‘* The
heavenly fire, the ark, Urim,” Ge. which were present to the
first Temple, but absent from the second. For presently they
slip into discourse concerning the ceasing of prophecy under
the second Temple, and the Bath Kol’s succeeding in its
places. The word TW is in David’s mouth, 1 Chron. xxix.
© Middoth, cap. τ. hal. 6. Ρ Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 408.
4 Middoth, cap. 1. hal. 8.
Jerusalem,—Cadytis. 229
19; (MINIT Wy ΓΤΎΞΙΤ maa? “to build the palace for
which I have made provision.”
Sect. VI.—Jerusalem, in Herodotus, is Cadytis.
Ler us also salute Jerusalem, and that under its most glo-
rious name, ‘ The Holy City.’ Herodotus points it out, if we
are not much mistaken, under the name of Cadytis. ᾿Απὸ
Φοινίκης μέχρι οὔριων τῶν Καδύτιος πόλιος, ἡ ἐστὶ Συρίων τῶν
Παλαιστινῶν καλεομένων" “ From® Phoenice unto the moun-
tains of Cadytis, which is the city of those Syrians who are
called Palestines.” That Jerusalem is pointed out by him
under this name, these things following persuade me :
I. Its was commonly called ΓΟ Kedoshah, Holy. The
Jewish money, wheresoever dispersed, spoke out this title of
the city. But now when it was very common in the Syrian
dialect to change W (Schin) into 7 (Thaw), how easy was it
among them, and among other nations imitating them, that
Cadysha should pass into Cadyta and Caditis; as ΓΙ ΓΙ Cha-
dasha, New, passed into WIM Chadatha.
II. He compareth [7 to the great city of Sardis.
For ᾿Απὸ δὲ Καδύτιος ἐούσης πόλιος (ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκέει) Σαρδίων od
πολλῷ ἐλάσσονος" “From the city Cadytis,” as he goes on,
**not much less than Sardis, as I think.’? But now there was
no city at all within Palestine worthy to be compared with
Sardis, a most famous metropolis in times past, except Je-
rusalem.
ΠῚ. These things also he speaks of Nechoh king of Egypt :
Καὶ Σύροισι πεζῇ ὁ Νεκὼς συμβαλὼν ἐν Μαγδόλῳᾳ ἐνίκησε.
Μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην Κάδυτιν πόλιν τῆς Συρίας ἐοῦσαν μεγάλην
cide.“ But" Necus joining in a foot battle with the Syrians
in Magdolus, obtained the victory: and after that, took
Cadytis the great city of Syria.”
Which passage, if it be compared with the holy story of
Pharaoh Nechoh overcoming Josiah in the battle in the vale
of Megiddo, and disposing of the Jewish throne, 2 Kings
XXlll. 33, 34, it fixeth the thing beyond all controversy.
τ Herodot. in Thalia, [III.] cap.5. the Arabs. ]
5 English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 303. ἃ Herodot. in Euterpe, [ii.] cap.
Ὁ [It is still called Εἰ Kods by 159.
230 Chorographical decad.
Herodotus* goes forward; ᾿Απὸ ταύτης (Καδύτιος) τὰ ἐμ-
πόρια τὰ ἐπὶ θαλάσσης μέχρι ᾿Ιηνύσου πόλιός ἐστι τῆς ᾿Αραβίας.
ἀπὸ δὲ ᾿Ιηνύσου αὗτις Συρίων μέχρι Σερβωνίδος λίμνης" “ From
Cadytis, the sea mart towns as far as Jenysus, belong to
Arabia ; from Jenysus onward to the Serbon lake belong to
the Syrians.” Words obscure enough; especially which was
the city Jenysusy : the Talmudists indeed mention wy
Jenush among the towns which they say are DIN in the
confines; but the situation does not agree. But we will not
pursue the matter in this place.
δον. VIl—The streets of Jerusalem.
“ ΤῊΝ ἃ streets of Jerusalem were swept every day,”
or 52a saan prwy obwry cpw. Hence, “ The
moneys that were found in Jerusalem before those that
bought cattle are always tenths. The moneys found in the
mount of the ‘Temple are pon profane or common. In
Jerusalem on other days of the year they are common; but
in the time of the feasts they are all tenths. But, saith R.
Shemaia, Upon what reason is this? when the streets of Je-
rusalem are swept every day.”
The Gloss writes thus; “ They are always tenths: both
in the time of the feasts, and in the time when there are no
feasts. But moneys found in the mount of the Temple were
common, even in the time of the feasts. For it is supposed,
those moneys fell from them [or were lost], in the mount of
the Temple ; and thereupon they are common. But why
were they tenths in Jerusalem in the time of the feasts? And
why is it not said, That they had fallen from them there be-
fore the feast, as we say of the mount of the Temple? Be-
cause the streets of Jerusalem were swept every day; and if
moneys had been lost there before the feast, they who swept
the street had found them before. But the mount of the
Temple had no need to be swept every day: for dirt and
dust remained not there; because the mount was shelving :
and moreover, it was not lawful for any to enter there with
his shoes, or with dust on his feet.”
x [11]. 5.] a Pesachin, fol. 7. 1. and Mezia,
y [See Bahr’s note. | fol. 26. 1.
7 Hieros. Demai, fol. 22. 4.
A sabbath-day’s journey. 231
I cannot omit what he saith besides: ‘“ Much of the flesh
which was eaten at Jerusalem,” in the time of the feasts,
‘was of” the second “ tithes. For searce any one tarried
there until he had eaten all his tithes; but he gave the mo-
neys of the tithes either to the poor, or to his friends in the
city. And, for the most part, with the moneys of the tithes
they bought their thank-offerings.”
Seor. VIII.b—The street leading from the Temple towards
Olivet.
“Rappan© Jochanan Ben Zaceai bom Sy soya aw en
sat under the shadow of the Temple, and taught the people the
whole day.” The Gloss, “ When the ‘temple was a hundred
cubits high, it cast its shadow a great way in length, unto
that street which was before Mam WI the Mountain of the
House. And because that street was spacious, and might
contain a great multitude of men, Jochanan taught there by
reason of the heat. For no synagogue could contain his
hearers.”
That street which was before the mount of the Temple,
according to the accustomed form of speech, was that by
which they went to the Temple at the east gate; concerning
which street, and the people convened thither by Hezekiah,
mention is made 2 Chron. xxix. 4.4 This street went out
into the valley of Kedron, by the Water-gate. And _ this
way the priest went out, that was to burn the red cow in
Olivet. And this way our great High Priest entered with
palms and Hosanna. This was called “the Street of the
Temple,” Ezra x. 9.
CHAP. [ν.
Ἢ κώμη ἡ κατέναντι. The village over-against ; Mark xi. 2.
I. A sabbath-day’s journey. 11. Shops in mount Olivet. UL.
INT MV YTV The lavatory of Bethany. 1V. Migdal Eder,
near Jerusalem. NV. The Seventy interpreters noted. V1. The
pomp of those that offered the first-fruits.
Seer. L—A sabbath-day’s journey.
"Ore ἐγγίζουσιν εἰς ἹἹερουσαλὴμ, εἰς Βηθφαγὴ, καὶ Βηθανίαν"
‘As they came near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany.”
Ὁ Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 409. ¢ Pesach. fol. 26. 1.
4 English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 304.
939 Chorographical decad.
So also Luke: when, according to the order of the story, one
would think it should rather be said, els Βηθανίαν καὶ Βηθ-
payn, ‘ To Bethany and Bethphage.’ For Christ, in his tra-
velling, came to Bethany, and there lodged, John xii. [1.]; and
from that city went forward by the space almost of a mile,
before he came as far as Bethphage. And yet it is named by
them in this order, “ To Bethphage and Bethany ;” that it
might be shewn that the story is to be understood of the
place where Bethany and Bethphage touch upon one another:
Matthew therefore names Bethphage alone.
We have elsewhere shewn more at large these two things
out of the Talmudists, which do not a little tend to the
elearing of this matter :
I. That a traet, or one part of mount Olivet, was called
Bethany, not from the town of that name, where Lazarus
dwelt, but the town was so ealled from that tract; and that
tract from the dates or palm trees growing there, ΣΤ M3
Beth Hene, the place of dates.
II. That there was no town at all named Bethphage, but
another tract of Olivet was so called, for gre figs growing
there; that is the meaning of 35 M1 Beth-phagi, ‘ The
place of green figs ;° and that the village, or outmost street
of Jerusalem, lying next it, was called by the same name.
We observed, also, that that place in mount Olivet, where
these two tracts Bethany and Bethphage touched on one
another, was a sabbath-day’s journey from the city, or there-
abouts. Which how it may be applied to illustrate the pre-
sent business we are upon, let us say a few things concerning
such a journey.
How far the bounds of a sabbath-day’s journey reached,
every one knows: and every one knows that that space was
measured out every way without the cities, that the certain
bounds might be fixed, and that there might be no mistake ;
and that, by some evident mark, the limits might be known,
that they might not remain doubtful in a thing wherein they
placed so much religion.
These are the rules of the masters concerning measuring
two thousand cubits from every side of the city:
“A city® which is long or square, when it hath four just
© Maimon. in Schab. cap. 28,
Shops in mount Olivet. 233
corners, they let be as it is; and they measure two thousand
cubits for it on every side. If it be round, they frame it
into a square, and they measure from the sides of that
square. If it be triangular, they frame it into a square, and
measure from the sides of the square,’ &c. And after,
“ They measure only with a line of fifty cubits, and that of
flax.”
An intimation is given concerning the marks of those
bounds by that canon; “ They do not ride upon a beast”
(on the sabbath, and on a holy-day), “ that they go not
forth beyond the bounds.” Where the Gloss is, « Because
he that walketh not on foot POINN {31D AN ARN pes
seeth not the marks of the bounds.”
Its is said by St. Mark, that the two disciples sent by
Christ εὗρον τὸν πῶλον δεδεμένον ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀμφόδου, “ found
the colt tied where two ways met.” Let me pass my con-
jecture, —that it was in such a place where a mark was set
up of a sabbath-day’s journey from the city ; where the sab-
bath-way from the city, and the common way thence into
the country, touched on one another.
Secr. I].—Shops in mount Olivet.
“The shops? of the children of Chanan, 327 23 MIN
were laid waste three years before the destruction of the
Temple.” “ Andi why were the shops of Beth Heno by neon
{277 ma laid waste three years before the destruction of
the Temple? Because they established their doings upon the
words of the law,” &ec. The Gloss* is, ““ That which was
forbidden by the words of the wise men, they found allowed
by the words of the law.”
The story is the same in both places. In the former
place the shopkeepers are named ; in the latter, the place of
the shops. The shopkeepers were }17 23 the sons of Oha-
nan or Jochanan ; for, in the Jerusalem language, Chanan
and Jochanan are the same. The place was 777 MD Beth
Heno; which I fear not to assert to be the same with Beth-
any. ‘The reason of my confidence is twofold: 1. Because
f Beza, fol. 36. 2. h Hieros. Berac. fol. 16. 1.
& English folio edition, vol. 11. p. i Bab. Mezia, fol. 88. 1.
305. k Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 410.
234 Chorographical decad.
the Talmudists call Bethany 9} ΓΟ Beth Hene ; to which
how near does Beth Heno come! 2. Because in them there is
open mention of shops in mount Olivet.
“ There! were two cedars (say they) in mount Olivet:
under one of them there were four shops, where all things
needful for purification were sold. From one of them they
produced forty seahs of pigeons every month, whence women
to be purified were supplied.” Four shops were under one ;
and how many were there under another, whence so many
pigeons should come! Therefore, either shew me some other
village between the town of Bethany and the first skirt of
Bethphage ; or else allow ine to believe that this was that
to which the two disciples were sent, and which, then when
they were sent, was κώμη ἡ κατέναντι ὑμῶν, “ the village over-
against you:” namely, either a village consisting of those
various shops only, or a village, a part of which those shops
were.
Sect. IT m2 ym The lavatory of Bethany.
Parpon the word which I am forced to frame, lest, if I
had said the bath, or the laver, they might straiten the sense
of the thing too much. That place whereof we are now
speaking was a pool, or a collection of waters, where people
were wont to wash; and it agreeth very well with those
things that were spoken before concerning purifications.
Here either unclean men or unclean women might wash
themselves ; and presently buying in the neighbouring shops
what was needful for purification, they betook themselves to
Jerusalem, and were purified in the Temple.
Of this place of washing, whatsoever it was, the Gemarists
speak in that story, ΣΤ M2 ymv3 orn ΠΡ oe
Jox™ rent a sheep at the lavatory of Beth Hene: and the eause
was brought before the wise men, and they said, MO WT ps
It ts not a rending.” We doubt not that Beth Hene is
Bethany: and this cause was brought thence before the wise
men of Jerusalem, that they might instruct them whether it
were lawful to eat of the carcase of that sheep, when the
ating of a beast that was torn was forbidden. See, if you
! Mieros. Taanith, fol. 69. 2. m Bab. Cholin, fol. 53.1.
Migdal Kder. 935
please, their distinction between MD snatching away by a
wild beast, and MD 97 tearing, in the place cited, where they
discuss it at large.
Travellers speak of a cistern near the town of Bethany,
“near which, in a field, is shewn the place where Martha
met our Lord coming to Bethany.” They are the words of
Borchard the monk. Whether the thing itself agrees with
this whereof we are speaking, must be left uncertain.
Sect. 1V.—Migdal Eder. “VY on blak
By occasion of these places discovered to us by the Tal-
mudists, | cannot but observe another also out of them on
another side of the city, not further distant from the city
than that whereof we now spake, if it were as far distant as
that; that is, Migdal Eder, or the Tower of the Flock, dif-
ferent from that mentioned Gen. xxxv.21. The Jerusalem
Talmudists, of this our place, speak thus: “ The cattle™
which are found ὁ 34 S579 os | oben from Jerusalem
as far as Migdal Eder on every side,” &c. The Babylonian
writers more fully; “‘ TheP cattle which are found from Jeru-
salem as far as Migdal Eder, and in the same space on every
side being males, are burnt-offerings, females are peace-
offerings.”
In that place the masters are treating and disputing,
Whether it is lawful to espouse a woman by some conse-
erated thing given in pledge to assure the thing. And con-
cerning cattle found between Jerusalem and Migdal Eder,
and the same space every where about Jerusalem, they con-
clude that they are to be reputed for consecrated. ‘“‘ Because
it may be supposed” (as the Gloss speaks), ‘* that they were
strayed out of Jerusalem; for very many cattle going out
thence were to be sacrificed.”
They have a tradition not unlike this, as we said before,
of money found within Jerusalem: ‘ Moneys4 which are
found in Jerusalem, before those that buy cattle, are always
tithes,” &e.
But to our business. From the words alleged we infer
that there was a tower or a place by name Migdal Kder, but
n Hieros. Kidd. fol. 63. 1. P Bab. Kidd. fol. 55. 1.
ο English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 306. 4 Bava Mezia, fol. 26.1.
236 Chorographical decad.
a very little space from Jerusalem, and that it was situate
on the south side of the city: I say, “a little space from
Jerusalem ;” for it had been a burden to the inhabitants
dwelling about the city not to be borne, if their oxen or
smaller cattle, upon any occasion straying away and taken in
stray, should immediately become consecrated, and that the
proper owner should no longer have any right in them. But
this tower seems to be situate so near the city, that there
was no town round about within that space. We say also,
that that tower was on the south side of the city; and that
upon the credit, (shall I say?) or mistake of the Seventy
interpreters.
Srotr. V.°—The Seventy Interpreters noted.
Here, reader, I will resolve you a riddle in the Seventy, in
Gen. xxxv.[16.] In Moses the story of Jacob in that place
is thus: “They went from Beth-el; and when it was but a
little space to Ephrath, Rachel travailed,” &e. And after-
ward [21]; ‘“ Israel went on and pitched his tabernacle
beyond the tower Edar.”
The Seventy invert the order of the history, and they
make the eneamping of Jacob beyond Migdal Eder to be
before his coming to the place where Rachel died. For thus
they write: ᾿Απάρας δὲ ᾿Ιακὼβ ἐκ Βαιθὴλ, ἔπηξε τὴν σκηνὴν
αὐτοῦ ἐπέκεινα τοῦ πύργου Γαδέρ. ᾿Εγένετο δὲ ἡνίκα ἤγγισεν
εἰς Χαβραθὰ τοῦ ἐλθεῖν εἰς τὴν ᾿Εφραθὰ, ἔτεκε Ραχὴλ, &e.
« And Jacob, departing from Beth-el, pitched his tent over-
against the tower Gader. And it came to pass when he
approached to Chabratha to come to Ephratha, Rachel tra-
vailed,” &e.
I suspect, unless I fail in my conjecture, that they inverted
the order of the history, fixing their eyes upon that Migdal
Eder which was very near Jerusalem. For when Jacob
travelled from Beth-el to the place of Rachel’s sepulchre,
that tower was first to be passed by, before one could come
to the place; and when Jacob in his journey travelled south-
ward, it is very probable that tower was on that quarter of
the city.
There was, indeed, a Migdal Eder near Beth-lehem, and
r Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 411.
Pomp of those that offered the first-fruits. 237
this was near Jerusalem; and perhaps there were more
places of that name in the land of Israel. For as that word
denotes the Tower of a Flock, so those towers seem to have
been built for the keeping of flocks; that shepherds might be
there ready also a-nights; and that they might have weapons:
in a readiness to defend their flocks, not only from wild
beasts, but from robbers also. And to this sense we suppose
that expression, DO 7) S39 ‘the Tower of the Keepers,’
is to be taken in that saying, WWI Vy Ty OWS bana
“From the Tower of the Keepers to the strong city,” 2 Kings
XVli. 9, Xvill. 8.
Hence the Targumist Jonathan, to distinguish Migdal
Eder of Beth-lehem from all others, thus paraphraseth Mo-
ses’s words: ‘“ And Israel went forward, and pitched his
tabernacle beyond Migdal Eder, the place whence the Mes-
sias is to be revealed in the end of days.” Which very well
agree with the history, Luke ii. 8. Whether Micah, chap. iv.
8, speak of the same, inquire.
Seer. VI.—The pomp of those that offered the first-fruits.
We have spoken of the places nearest the city, the mention
of them taking its rise from the triumph of Christ sitting
upon the ass, and the people making their acclamations: and
this awakens the remembrance of that pomp which accom-
panied the bringing of the first-fruits from places also near
the city. Take it in the words of the masters, in the place
eiteds in the margin :
“ Aftert what manner did they bring their first-fruits ?
All the cities TAYMAW which were of one station” (that is,
out of which one course of priests proceeded) “ were gathered
together into a stationary city, and lodged in the streets.
In the morning, he who was the first among them said,
Arise, let us go up to Zion, to the house of the Lord our
God.”
‘““An ox went before them with gilded horns, and an olive
crown upon his head” (the Gloss is, that ox was for a peace-
offering) ; ‘‘ and the pipe played before them until they ap-
proached near to Jerusalem. When then they came to Jeru-
salem, they crowned their first-fruits” (that is, they exposed
5. Biccurim, c. 3. τ English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 307.
238 Chorographical decad.
them to sight in as much glory as they could), “and the chief
men, and the high officers, and treasurers of the Temple came
to meet them, and that to do the more honour to them that
were coming; MVIDIW ya PD and all the workmen in
Jerusalem rose up to them” (as they were in their shops),
“and saluted them in this manner, ‘ O our brethren, inhabit-
ants of the city N, ye are weleome., ”
“The pipe played before them till they came to the Mount
of the Temple. When they came to the Mount of the
Temple, qban DEIN ἫΝ even hing Agrippa himself tock
the basket upon his shoulder, and went forward till he came
to the court; the Levites sang, ‘I will exalt thee, O Lord,
because thou hast exalted me, and hast not made mine ene-
mies to rejoice over me’ (Psalm xxx. 1). While the basket is
yet upon his shoulder, he recites that passage (Deut. xxvi. 3),
41 profess this day to the Lord my God,’ &c. R. Judah
saith, When he recites these words, ‘ A Syrian ready to
perish was my father,’ &c. ver. 5, he casts down the basket
from his shoulders, and holds its lips while the priest waves
it hither and thither. The whole passage being recited to
ver. 10, he placeth the basket before the altar, and adores,
and goes out.”
CHAP. V.
Dalmanutha. Mark viii. 10
1. A scheme of the sea of Gennesaret, and the places adjacent.
If. nme Ma The house of widowhood, Zalmon.
Thence Dalmanutha.
Marr. xv. 39: Ἦλθεν εἰς τὰ ὅρια Μαγδαλά: “ And came to
the coasts of Magdala.’—Mark viii. io: Ἦλθεν εἰς τὰ μέρη
Δαλμανουθά" “ came into the parts of Dalmanutha.”
The story is one and the same; and that country is one
and the same: but the names Magdala and Dalmanutha
are not so to be confounded, as if the city ‘ Magdala’ was
also called Dalmanutha: but Dalmanutha is to be sup-
posed to be some" particular place within the bounds of
Magdala, I observe the Arabie interpreter in the London
Polyglott Bible, for Dalmanutha, in Mark, reads Maadala, as
it is in Matthew; in no false sense, but in no true inter-
“ Leusden’s edition, vol. il. p. 412.
Scheme of the sea of Geunesaret. 239
pretation. But the Arabic of Mrpenius’s edition reads Dal-
manutha.—* Erasmus notes (saith Beza upon the place),
that a certain Greek copy hath Magdala. And Austin
writes, that most copies have Mageda. But in our very old
copy, and in another besides, for εἰς τὰ μέρη Δαλμανουθὰ, ‘into
the parts of Dalmanutha, is written εἰς τὰ ὅρια Madeyada,
‘into the coasts of Madegada,
If the name and situation of Magdala in the Talmudists
had been known to these interpreters, 1 scarcely think they
would have dashed upon so many uncertainties. We have
largely and plainly treated of it in another volume, out of
those authors: and out of the same, unless I mistake, some-
thing may be fetched, which may afford light to Mark’s text
of Dalmanutha. Which thing before we take in hand,
perhaps it will not be unacceptable to the reader, if we de-
scribe the sea of Gennesaret, and the places adjoining, by
some kind of delineation, according to their sitnation, which
we take up from the Hebrew writers.
Secor. I1.X—A scheme of the sea of Gennesaret, and the
places adjacent.
Comparing this my little map with others, since you see it
to differ so much from them, you will expect that I sufficiently
prove and illustrate the situation of the places, or I shall come
off with shame. I did that, if my opinion deceive me not, a
good while ago, in some chapters in the Chorographical cen-
tury. I will here despatch the sum total in a few lines :
I. “ Chammath was so ealledy, because of the warm baths
of Tiberias : from which it was so very little distant, that, as to
a sabbath-day’s journey, the men of Tiberias and the men of
Chammath might make but one city.”
It is called WW SMM Chammath of Gadara, not only
to distinguish it from mbps moar Chammath of Pella, that
is, ‘ Callirrhoe ;’ but because a part of it was built upon the
bank of Gadara, and another part upon the bank of Neph-
thali, or Tiberias, the bridge lying between: which shall be
shewn presently.
x English folio edition, vol. ii. p. fol. 23. 4. Id. Kiddush. fol. 64. 3.
308. Id. Sheviith, fol. 36. 6.
Υ Megill. fol. 6. τ. Hieros. Krub.
240 Chorographical decad.
Tiberias stood touching on the sea; ‘ for? on one side it
had the sea for a wall.”
‘““Gennesaret was a place near Tiberias, where were gar-
dens and paradises.” They are the words of the Aruch.
Capernaum we place within the country of Gennesaret
upon the credit of the evangelists, Matt. xiv. 34, and Mark
vi. 53, compared with John vi. 22, 24.
Taricha? was distant from Tiberias thirty furlongs>: Beth-
maus, four furlongs.
Magdala was beyond Jordan ; for it is called 73 ban
Maadala of Gadara: and that which is said by the Talmud-
ists, “ Thee Gadarenes might, by the permission of R. Juda
Nasi, come down to Chammath on the sabbath, and walk
through it, unto the furthest street, even to the bridge,” is
expressed and expounded by them in the same place, “ That
the people of Magdala, by the permission of R. Judah Nasi,
went up to Chammath,” &c. From which single tradition
one may infer, 1. That Magdala was on the bank of Gadara.
2. That it was not distant from Chammath above a sabbath-
day’s journey. 3. That it was on that side of Chammath,
which was built on the same bank of Gadara by which it
reached to the bridge above Jordan, which joined it to the
other side on the bank of Galilee.
“ Hippo’ wase distant from Tiberias thirty furlongs.”
With which measure compare these words, which are spoken
of Susitha; which that it was the same with Hippo, both
the derivation of the words and other things do evince:
“ R. Juda saith, Thef monoceros entered not into Noah’s
ark, but his whelps entered. R. Nehemiah saith, Neither he
nor his whelps entered, but Noah tied him to the ark. 7M
nyabn ΟΣ And he made furrows in the waves, ΤῺ
ΜΓ ΟΟ man for as much space as is from Tiberias to
Susitha.” And again, “ The’ ark of Noah swam upon the
waters as upon two rafters, NIYDIO? TM Aw (2 as much
space as is from Tiberias to Susitha.”
2 Megill. in the place above. 4 English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 309.
a Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 412. € Joseph. in his own Life. [c. 65. ]
Ὁ Joseph. in his own Life. [¢. 32. | f Bereshith Rab. sect. 31.
© Hieros. in Erubh. in the place & Ibid. sect. 32.
above.
Scheme of the sea of Gennesaret. 241
Gadara § was distant sixty furlongs from Tiberias.
“ Bethsaida) was in τῇ κάτω Γαυλανιτικῇ, lower Gaulonitis,”
beyond Jordan in Batanea. It is shown to pilgrims on the
shore of the sea of Gennesaret in Galilee; and thence the
error of the maps was taken. Hear our countryman Bid-
dulph', who saw those places about the year 16co:
τς March the twenty-fourth, we rode by the sea of Galilee,
which hath two names, John vi. 1, ‘ The sea of Galilee,’ and
‘ Tiberias of Galilee, because it is in Galilee; and ‘ of Tibe-
rias, because the city of Tiberias was built near it: also
Bethsaida, another ancient city. We saw some ruins of the
walls of both. But it is said in that chapter, John vi. 1,
that Jesus sailed over the sea of Galilee. And elsewhere,
that he went over the lake; and Luke ix. 10, it is said that
he departed into a desert place near the city Bethsaida.
Which text of John I learned better to understand by seeing,
than ever I could by reading. For when Tiberias and Beth-
saida were both on the same shore of the sea, and Christ
went from Tiberias to, or near, Bethsaida; hence I gather,
that our Saviour Christ sailed not over the length or breadth
of the sea, but that he passed some bay, as much as Tiberias
was distant from Bethsaida. Which is proved thence, in that
it is said elsewhere, That a great multitude followed him thi-
ther on foot; which they could not do if he had sailed over
the whole sea, to that shore among the Gergasenes which is
without the holy land.” These are his words.
But take heed, sir, that your guides, who show those places
under those names, do not impose upon yeu. If you will
take Josephus for a guide, he will teach, that “ Philip * re-
paired the town Bethsaida; and he called it Julias, from
Julias the daughter of Ceesar :” and, that “ that! Julias was ἐν
τῇ κάτω Ταυλανιτικῇ, in lower Gaulonitis.’ Nor is the argu-
ment good, ‘ otherwise they would not follow him a-foot ;”
for, from Capernaum and Tiberias, there was a very beaten
and common way by the bridge of Chammath into the coun-
try of the Gadarenes, and so to Bethsaida.
& Joseph. in the place above. 1609.) not quoted verbatim. |
h Td. de Bell. lib. ii. cap. 13. [1]. k Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. 3. [xviii.
9g. 1.] es @
i [Travels, p. 103. (ed. Lond. 1 Td. in the place above.
LIGHTEOOT, VOL, I. R
242 Chorographical decad.
Cana was a great way distant from Tiberias: Josephus ™
spent a whole night travelling from this town to that with
his army. It was situate against Julias of Betharamphtha, as
may be gathered from the same author in the place quoted ®
in the margin. Now that Julias was situate at the very influx
of Jordan into the sea of Gennesaret.
These things might be more largely explained and illus-
trated, but we are afraid of being too long; and so much the
more, because we have treated copiously of them elsewhere.
This will be enough to an unbiassed reader, to whose judg-
ment we leave it; and now go on to Dalmanutha.
ΘΕΟΊ. IL— snot Mn Zalmon. Thence Dalmanutha.
Ir we may play a little with the name Dalmanutha, hear
a Talmudiecal tradition. “60 that sells a farm to his neigh-
bour, or that receives a place from his neighbour, 1 MNWwy
snad mats mens mann mya to make him a house of
betrothing for his son, or a house of widowhood for his daughter ;
let him build it four cubits this way, and six that.” Where the
Gloss, yna> ΓΜ ma “A house of widowhood for his
daughter, whose husband is dead, and she now returns to the
house of her father.”
The meaning of this tradition is,‘ When the son of any
one had married a wife, he did not use to dwell with his fa-
ther-in-law; but it was more customary for his father to
build him a little house near his own house.’ So also when
the husband was dead, and the daughter, now being a widow,
returned to her father, it was also customary for the father
to build her a little house ; in which she dwelt, indeed, alone,
but very near her father.
ButP now from some such house of more note than ordi-
nary, built for some eminent widow; or from many such
houses standing thick together, this place, perhaps, might
be called ΓΜ τ Dalmanutha, that is, “ The place of
widowhood.” And if some more probable derivation of the
name occurred not, it might, not without reason, have had
respect to this.
m In his own Life, p. 631. [c. 17.] © Bava Bathra, fol. 98. 2.
n Ibid. p. 653. [c. 72.] P Leusden’s edition, vol. il. p. 414.
Zalimon. 943
But we suppose the name is derived elsewhere ; namely,
from γοῦν Zalmon, % (Tsade) being changed into Ἢ (Daleth)
which is no strange thing to the Syrians and Arabians.
Of4 Zalmon we meet with mention, Judg. ix. 48 ;—namely,
a mountain, or some tract in a mountain, near Sychem: but
that place is a very great way off of that concerning which
we are now treating. But the Talmudists™ mention a place
ealled Zalmon, which agrees excellently well with Dalma-
nutha. ‘“ There is a story (say they) of a certain man in
Zalmon, who said, I, N, the son of N, am bitten by a serpent,
and behold I die. ‘They went away and found him not: they
went away, therefore, and married his wife.”” The Gloss is,
‘** They heard the voice of him erying, and saying, Behold, I
die; but they found not such a man in Zalmon.” And
agains; “ There is a story in Zalmon, of a certain man who
planted his vineyard sixteen and sixteen cubits; and a gate
of two ranks of vines: now he turned on this side, and the
year following on the other, and ploughed on both sides.
And the cause was brought before the wise men, and they
approved of it.”
None will suspect this Zalmon to be the same with that
near Sychem, when it is said, that “ they brought the cause
before the wise men:” for what had the Samaritans to do
with the wise men of the Jews? One might rather believe it
to be some place near to Tiberias (where was a university of
wise men), well known and commonly spoke of, and men-
tioned in the traditions cited as a place so known. So divers
places about Tiberias are mentioned by the Talmudists as
well known, which you will scarce find any where but in the
books of the Talmudists. Such are Chammath, Magdala,
Beth Meon, Paltathah, Caphar Chittaia, ὅθ. Concerning
which we have spoken in another place. There was also
ΓΔ Mizgah, thet seat of Simeon Ben Lachish ; and DSN
ΣΟῚ Hits» of Tiberias, a place near Tiberias, of an un-
wholesome air; and S*NIWI ΓΙ ΔῚΣ The * cave of Trbe-
rias; and spbp 32 Bar Selene; and others which are no-
»
4 English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 310. τ Bereshith Rabb. sect. 34.
r Jevamoth, fol. 122. 1. u Ibid. sect. 31.
8 Kilaim, cap. 4. hal. 9. Bava x Hieros. Horaioth, fol. 48. 1.
Bathra, fol. 82. 2.
R 2
944 Chorographical decad.
where mentioned but in these authors; but in them of very
noted name. Of this number we suppose this Zalmon was, a
place so near to Tiberias, and so known, that it was enough
to name it only. But now, when any that spake Hebrew
would pronounce it Zalmon and Zalmanutha, he that spake
Syriae would pronounce it Dalmon and Dalmanutha.
CHAP. Na:
Ὅρια Τύρου καὶ Σιδῶνος" The coasts of Tyre and Sidon ;
Mark vii. 24.
I. The maps too officious. II. by5>5 Ὅριον: A coast. III. The
Greck Interpreters noted. IV. Midland Phenicia. V. Of
the Sabbatic River.
Seer. 1.—The maps too officious.
You will see, in some maps, the Syrophcenician woman
pictured, making her supplication to our Saviour for her
possessed daughter, almost at the gates of Sidon. But by
what right, I fear the authors will not tell me with solidity
enough.
In one of Adrichomius’s the woman is pictured and no
inscription added: but in the Dutch one of Doet she is pic-
tured with this inscription; ‘“ Hier badt de Cananeische
Urou voor haer dochter,” ‘* Here the Canaanitish woman
prayed for her daughter,” Matt. xv. In that of Geilkirch,
with these words written at it, “ Porta Sidonis, ante quam
mulier Canaanzea filie suze deemoniacee a Domino salutem
obtinuit :” “The gate of Sidon, before which the Canaanitish
woman obtained health for her daughter possessed with a
devil,”? Matt. xv.
“ Before the gate of Sidon (saith Borchard the monk)
eastward, there is a chapel, built in the place where the Ca-
naanitish woman prayed our Saviour for her demoniacal
daughter: concerning whom we read thus Matt. xv, that
‘going out of the coasts of Tyre and Sidon she came to
Jesus.”
There are two things which plainly disagree with that
situation and opinion :—
I. That it is not eredible that Christ ever passed the
bounds of the land of Israel. For when he said of himself,
A coast, 245
“1 am not sent but to the lost sheep of Israel only ;”” and to
his disciples, ‘‘ Go not into the way of the Gentiles ;” and,
“If these wonderful works had been done iny Tyre and
Sidon;”—you will never persuade me that he ever went as far
as the gates of Sidon.
II. It is said by St. Mark, that after that maid was
healed, Christ came “from the coast of Tyre and Sidon to
the sea of Galilee, through the middle of the coasts of De-
capolis.” What! from the gate of Sidon to the sea of
Galilee, through the midst of Decapolis? It would have
been more properly said, “Through the midst of Galilee :”
and hence, as it seems, some have been moved to place
Deeapolis within Galilee, with no reason at all. We shall
meet with it in another place, in the following chapter, and
in such a place, that it is not easy to conceive how Christ
could pass through it from the gate of Sidon to the sea of
Galilee.
Secr. 1. δὴ35 “Opiov' A coast.
To determine concerning ὁρίοις Τύρου καὶ Σιδῶνος, “ the
coasts of Tyre and Sidon,” in this story, we first propound
this to the reader: It is said, 1 Kings ix. 11, 12, that
‘Solomon gave to Hiram, the king of the Tyrians, twenty
cities? in Galilee ’’ which when he had seen and liked them
not, “he called the land 523 Chabul unto this day.” The
LXX render it, ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὰς Ὅριον, “he called them the
border or coast.” Now let any one, I beseech you, skilled in
the tongues, tell me what kin there is between S25 and
ριον, a bound, or coast, that moved the LX X so to render
iba,
The Talmudists speak various things of the word 25
Chabul: but the sense and signification of the word Ὅριον,
ὦ coast, is very far distant from their meaning. The Jerusalem
Talmudists> speak thus; MVD ΓΙ) ASNw eal: 35
“ Chabul signifies a land which bears not fruit.” The Baby-
lonian® thus; “ What is the meaning of the land Chabul?
Rabba Honna saith, Because its inhabitants O33 pon
Υ English folio edit., vol. il. p.311. 4333, finis, terminus. Gesen. sub v.|
z Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 415. b Hieros. Schab. fol. 7.
a [Nescio an yap idem sit quod © Bab. Schab. fol. 54. 1.
246 Chorographical decad.
AHA) were wrapped up in silver and gold. Abba saith to
him, Is it so? Behold, it is written, ‘ That the cities pleased
him not.’ Should they displease him because they were
wrapped up in silver and gold ’—He saith to him, Yea, be-
cause they were wealthy and delicate, they were not fit for
the king’s works. Rabh Nachman Bar Isaac saith, pon
mo Lt was a salt land, and gaping with clefts. Why is it
ealled Chabul ? bas ἽΝ TID ΓΞ ΜΔ Because the
leg is plunged in it up to the garters*.” Josephus® thus, “Ex
rote προσηγορεύθησαν Χαβαλῶν γῆ: Μεθερμηνευόμειον yap τὸ
Χαβαλῶν, κατὰ Φοινίκων γλῶτταν, οὐκ ἀρέσκον σημαίνει" “ Out-
wards they called it the land of Chabal: for this word Chabal,
being interpreted, signifies in the Pheenician tongue, that
which pleaseth not.”
These things they speak, tracing the sense of the word as
well as they can; but of the sense of ὅριον, a bound or coast,
they did not so much as dream.
I cannot pass away without taking notice of the Glosser at
the place cited out of the Babylonian Talmudists, having
these words; ond ΠΌΣΟ inw yy one onwya
say owpmw “The text alleged speaks of twenty-two cities,
which Solomon gave to Hiram:” he reckons ‘two-and twenty,
when in the Hebrew original and in all versions, ‘twenty
cities’ only are mentioned. Whether it be a failing of the
memory, or whether he speaks it on purpose, who is able to
define? Much less are those words of the Holy Ghost to be
passed ice 2 Chron. viii. 2: ΓΤ abuid DVT 733 TW own)
ON nae ria The ΓΕΜΕ ΤΝ ΠΕΡ τ ς is very
easy, ‘And the cities which Huram gave to Solomon, Solo-
mon built them :” but the historical interpretation is not so
easy. For it is demanded, Whether did Hiram give those
cities of his own? or did he restore them, which Solomon
gave to him, when they pleased him not? And there are some
versions which render the word 112 not, he gave, but he
restored or gave back again; and in this sense, Solomon built
the eities which Hiram had restored back to Solomon. As
if Hiram would not keep those twenty cities in the land Cha-
[NORD Ἴ is rendered by Buxtorf usque ad talum. |
e [Antiq. viii. 5. 3.]
The Greek Interpreters noted. 247
bul, because they displeased him, but restored them back to
Solomon in some indignation.
Kimchi on the place more rightly, “ It is very well ex-
pounded, that Hiram gave cities to Solomon in his own
land; and he placed Israeltes there to strengthen himself.
And he, in like manner, gave cities to Hiram in Galilee ; and
that to strengthen the league between them. In the Book
of the Kings it is recorded what Solomon gave to Hiram ;
and in this,” of the Chronicles, ‘“ what Hiram gave to Solo-
mon.” Most true indeed: for that Hiram gave to Solomon
some cities in his jurisdiction, appears beyond all contro-
versy from thence, that Solomon is said to build Tadmor
in the wilderness, 1 Kings ix. 18. But what is that place
Tadmor? Josephus will teach us: Oadapdpa...... ot Ἕλληνες
προσαγορεύουσι Παλμυράν' “ Thadamor (saith he), the Greeks
call Palmyra.” And the Vulgar interpreters read, “ He built
Palmyra.” Therefore we must by no means think that Hiram
rejected the cities that were given him by Solomon, however
they pleased him not; but kept them for his own, which
Solomon also did with them which Hiram gave to him.
Buts whence should the Greek interpreters render that
place called bya5 Chabul by Ὅριον, a coast, when there is no
affinity at all between the significations of the words ¢
Secor. U1—TZhe Greck Interpreters noted.
Tue Greek interpreters are not seldom wont to render the
names of places, not by that name as they are called in the
Hebrew text, but as they are called in after-times under
the second Temple: which is also done often by the Chaldee
Targumists. Of this sort are, Καππάδοκες, Cappadocians, for
Caphtorim : ‘Pwvokdpovpa, Rhinocorura, for ‘the river of
Egypt ;’ of which we have spoken before: and among very
many examples which might be produced, let us compare one
place out of the Talmudists with them.
The Jerusalem Talmudists, calling some cities, mentioned
Josh. xix, both by their ancient and present names, speak
thus at ver. 15:
f Jos. Antig. lib. viii. cap. 2. [viil. 6. 1.]
& English folio edit., vol.ii. p. 212.
248 Chorographical decad.
Mew) mop “ Kattath» is Katonith.’ The LXX render
it Katara, Katanath.
babe bors « Nahalal is Mahalol.”
TIMIVID PWAW “ Shimron is Simoniah.” The LXX ren-
der it Συμοὼν, Symoon.
spr moan « Irala is Chiriah.” The UXX render it
᾿Ιεριχὼ, Jericho.
He that observes, shall meet with very many such. And
from this very thing you may perhaps suspect that that ver-
sion savours not of the antiquity of the times of Ptolemeus
Philadelphius.
The same that they are wont to do elsewhere, we suppose,
is done by them here: and rejecting the former name, whereby
that region of Galilee was called in the more ancient ages,
namely Chabul, they gave it the name and title whereby it
now ordinarily went, that is, “Opiov, the bound or the coast.
mw I suspect denotes the very same thing in that tra-
dition in the Jerusalem writersi; [AMON ΤΥ. sages
Dwi. ‘ Those cities are forbidden in the border, or coast, (ἐν
τῷ ὁρίῳ), Tzur, Shezeth, and Bezeth, &c.; and ΣΥΝ songs
DIINA NNN [IW those cities are permitted in the border,
or coast, (ἐν τῷ ὁρίῳ), Nebi Tsur, Tsiiar,” &e. The permission
or prohibition here spoke of—as much as we may, by guess,
fetch from the scope of the place—is in respect of tithing ;
and the determination is, from which of those eities tithes
were to be required and taken, and from which not. They
were to be required of the Israelites. not from the heathen :
which thing agrees very well with the land of Chabul, where
cities of this and that jurisdiction seem to have been mixed,
and, as it were, interwoven,
Secr. [1V.—Midland Phenicia.
Tuere was a Midland Phoenicia, as well as a Phoenicia on
the sea coast. That on the sea coast all know: of the Mid-
land, thus Ptolemy; Φοινίκης μεσόγειοι πόλεις “Apxa, &e.
Ὁ The! midland cities of Phcenicia are Arca, Palzeobiblus,
Gabala, Ceesarea of Paneas.”
Whether Midland Pheenicia and Syropheenicia be to be
h Hieros. Megill. fol.
ο. | Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 416.
k Hieros. Demai, fol.
2
at 1 Tabb. Asiz, p. 139.
Sa
NM
Midland Phenicia. 940
reckoned all one, Iam in doubt. I had rather divide Phoe-
nicia into three parts, namely, into Phcenicia on the sea
coast, Midland Pheenicia, and Syrophcenicia. And the rea-
son is, because I ask whether all Midland Phoenicia might
be called Syrophcenicia: and I ask, moreover, whether all
Syrophtenicia were to be reckoned within the bounds of Tyre
and Sidon? Certainly Nicetas Choniates mentions the Syro-
pheenician cities as far as Antioch. For he, in the story of
John Comenius, hath these words,”Eyvw προσβαλεῖν ταῖς παρὰ
τὴν ᾿Αντιόχου ἱδρυμέναις, καὶ ᾿Αγαρηνῶν κατεχομέναις Συροφοι-
νίσσαις πόλεσι: ““ He resolved to set upon the Syrophcenician
cities bordering upon Antioch, which were possessed by the
Agarenes.” But now, will you reckon those cities as far as
Antioch to be within the jurisdiction of Tyre and Sidon?
But certainly there is nothing hinders but you may reckon
those to be so which Ptolemy esteems to belong to Midland
Phoenicia ; only the seruple is about Czesarea of Paneas,
which is Ceesarea Philippi: and that, we shail see, belonged
to the Decapolitan cities, and may be determined, without
any absurdity, to be within that jurisdiction of Tyre and
Sidon, as also Leshem of old, which was the same city, Judges
XViil. 28.
Let one clause of the Talmudists be added; and then those
things which are spoken may be reduced into a narrower com-
pass. They, reducing the bounds of the land under the second
Temple, fix for a bound prop ἸΏ ΠΙΡν ΟῚ πον Δ
“ 'Tarnegola ™ the Upper, which is above Ceesarea.” Observe,
that Czesarea is a city of Midland Phoenicia, according to
Ptolemy ; and yet Tarnegola, which bends more northward,
is within the land of Israel, according to the Hebrews.
50 Ὁ that in this sense, Christ might be within ‘‘ the coasts
of ‘Tyre and Sidon,” and yet be within the limits of the land
of Israel. We must therefore suppose, and that ποὺ with-
out reason, that he, when he healed the possessed maid, was,
1. in that country, in the outermost coasts of Galilee, which
formerly was called Chabul, in the Seventy called Ὅριον,
the coast; in the Talmudists, DWM the border; which an-
ciently was given by Solomon to the king of Tyre; and from
m Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 36. 3. n English folio edit., vol. 11. p. 213.
250 Chorographical decad.
that grant in the following ages it belonged to the right and
jurisdiction of Tyre and Sidon; however it were within those
boundaries, wherein the land of Israel was circumscribed
from the beginning; yea, wherein it was circumscribed under
the second Temple. 2. We suppose him to have been not
far from the springs or stream of Jordan, which being passed
over, he could not come to the sea of Galilee, but by the
country of Decapolis.
Sect. V.—Of the Sabbatic river.
When we are speaking of Syrophcenicia, we are not far
off from a place where the sabbatic river either was, or was
feigned to be: and I hope the reader will pardon me, if I
now wander a little out of my bounds, going to see a river
that kept the sabbath: for who would not go out of his way
to see so astonishing a thing ?
And yet, if we believe Pliny, we are not without our bounds,
for he fixeth this river within Judea. “In Judea (saith he®)
a river every sabbath day is dry.”—Josephus otherwise ;
“ Titus (saith he P, going to Antioch) saw in the way a river
very well worthy to be taken notice of, between the cities of
Area and Raphana, cities of the kingdom of Agrippa. Now
it hath a peculiar nature. For, when it is of that nature, that
it flows freely, and does not sluggishly glide away; yet it
wholly fails from its springs for six days, and the place of it
appears dry. And then, as if no change at all were made,
on the seventh day the like river ariseth. And it is by cer-
tain experience found that it always keeps this order. Whence
it is called the ‘ Sabbatic river,’ from the holy seventh day of
the Jews.”
Whether of the two do you believe, reader? Pliny saith,
That river is in Judea: Josephus saith, No. Pliny saith, It
is dry on sabbath days: Josephus saith, It flows then. The
Talmudists agree with Pliny; and Josephus agrees not with
his own countrymen.
In the Babylonian tract Sanhedrim4, Turnus Rufus is brought
in, asking this of R. Akibah, ΝΣ NITDNTA WT WD
Who will prove that this is the sabbath-day? [The Gloss,
° Nat. Hist. lib. xxxi. cap. 2.
P Jos. de Bell. lib. vii. cap. 13. [Hudson, p. 1303.] [vii.5.1.] 9 Fol. 56. 2.
The region of Decapols. 251
‘For perhaps one of the other days is the sabbath.’] _ R. Aki-
bah answered, MD WVNAD Wa The Sabhatic river will
prove this. Tray ws ΡΞ He that hath a python, (or ὦ
familiar spirit,) will prove this. TI) VIN bw! Wap) And
the sepulchre of his father will prove this.” The Gloss writes
thus: “ ‘The Sabbatie river will prove this.’ That is a rocky
river, which flows and glides all the days of the week, but
ceaseth and resteth on the sabbath. ‘ He that hath a python
or a familiar spirit, will prove this.” For a python ascendeth
not on the sabbath-day. And the sepulchre of Turnus Rufus,
all the days of the year, sent forth a smoke; because he
was judged and delivered to fire. But transgressors in hell
rest on the sabbath-day.”. Therefore, his sepulchre sent not
forth a smoke on the sabbath day.
Do you not suspect, reader, whence and wherefore this
fable was invented? namely, when the brightness of the
Christian sabbath was now risen, and increased every day,
they had recourse to these monsters either of magic or of
fables, whereby the glory of our sabbath might be obscured,
and that of the Jews exalted. The various, and indeed eon-
trary relations of historians bring the truth of the story
into suspicion.
CHAP. V1iILs
The region of Decapolis, what ; Mark vii. 30.
I. Illy placed by some. 11. Seythopolis, heretofore (NW MI
Beth-shean, one of those Decapolitan cities. [11]. Also Ga-
dara, and Hippo. IV. And Pella. V. Caphar Tsemach.
Beth Gubrin. Caphar Carnaim. VI. Caesarea Philippi.
VU. The city 13939 Orbo.
Sot. I1.—The region of Decapolis not well placed by some.
We meet with frequent mention of Decapolis in the evan-
gelists, as also in foreign authors; but no where in a more
difficult sense than in those words of St. Mark, chap. vii,
where it is thus spoken of Christ; Καὶ πάλιν ἐξελθὼν ἐκ τῶν
ὁρίων Τύρου καὶ Σιδῶνος, ἦλθε πρὸς τὴν θάλασσαν τῆς Tart-
Aalas, ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ὁρίων Δεκαπόλεως" ““Απα again depart-
ing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came to the sea of
¥ Leusden’s edit., vol. 11. p. 417. 5. English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 314.
252 Chorographical decad.
Galilee through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.”. The
difficulty lies in this; that supposing by the ‘coasts of Tyre
and Sidon,’ a place near the gates of Sidon is to be under-
stood, of which before, it can scarcely be conceived how
Christ went through the middle of Decapolis to the sea of
Galilee, unless it be supposed that Decapolis was within
Galilee.
Hence Borchardt certainly, and others that follow him,
seem to be induced to number these towns of Galilee for
Decapolitan towns; Tiberias, Sephet, Kedesh -Naphtali,
Hazor, Capernaum, Czesarea Philippi, Jotopata, Bethsaida,
Chorazin, Seythopolis. Upon whose credit Baronius" writes
thus: ‘The province of Decapolis (saith he) was placed in
the same Galilee; so called, because there were ten cities
in it, among which one was reckoned Capernaum.” Con-
fidently enough indeed, but without any ground. Pliny
much otherwise: ‘“‘ There is joined to it (saith he*), on the
side of Syria, the region of Decapolis, from the number of
the towns, in which region all do not keep the same towns.
Yet most do. Damascus and Opoto, watered with the river
Chrysorrhoa, fruitful Philadelphia, Raphana, all lying back-
wards towards Arabia: Seythopolis (heretofore called Nysa,
from father Bacchus’s nurse being there buried), from Sey-
thians drawn down [and planted] there: Gaddara, [the river]
Hieromiax gliding by it, and that which is now called Hippon
Dion, Pella rich in waters, Galasa, Canatha. The tetrar-
chies run between these cities, and compass them about,
which are like to kingdoms, and are divided into kingdoms,
namely, Trachonitis, Paneas, in which is Caesarea, with the
fountain before spoke of, Abila, Arca, Ampeloessa.”
Whom should we believe? Borchard and his followers place
all Deeapolis within Galilee, being extended the whole length
of Galilee, and adjacent to Jordan, and on the shore of the
sea of Gennesaret. Pliny and his followers place it all in the
country beyond Jordan, except only Seythopolis.
In Seythopolis both parties agree, and I, in this, with both:
but in others I agree with Borchardus hardly in any, and not
with Pliny in all. In them, it is absurd to reckon the most
t Borchard. cap. 6. §. 6. Salig- ἃ Ad annum Christi 31.
niac, tom. 9. cap. 1. x Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 18.
The region of Decapolis. 253
famed cities of Galilee for cities of Decapolis, when, both in
sacred and profane authors, Galilee is plainly distinguished
from Decapolis. In Pliny, it seems an unequal match to
join Damascus and Philadelphia, formerly the two metropoles
of Syria and the kingdom of Ammon, with the small cities of
Gadara and Hippo.
With Pliny and his followers Josephus also consents, in
reckoning up some cities of Decapolis. or severely chiding
Justus of Tiberias, he has these words: Σὺ καὶ πάντες TiBe-
ριεῖς, οὐ μόνον ἀνειλήφατε τὰ ὅπλα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἐν τῇ Συρίᾳ
Δέκα πόλεις ἐπολεμεῖτε' * YouY-also and all the men οἵ Tibe-
rias have not only taken up arms, but have fought against
the cities of Decapolis in Syria.” Observe that: The cities
of Decapolis ἐν Συρίᾳ, in Syria, not in Galilee. Σὺ γοῦν ras
κώμας αὐτῶν ἐνέπρησας" “ Thou hast set their cities on fire.”
And a little after, “ After that Vespasian was come to Pto-
lemais, of πρῶτοι τῶν τῆς Συρίας Δέκα πόλεων, the chief men of
Decapolis of Syria sharply accused Justus of Tiberias, ὅτι
Tas κῶμας αὐτῶν ἐνέπρησεν, that he had fired their towns.”
But what those towns of Decapolis were, he hints elsewhere
in these words: “ Then@ Justus persuading his fellow-citi-
zens to take arms, and compelling those that would not, and
going forth with all these, ἐμπίμπρησι τάς τε Γαδαρηνῶν καὶ
ἹἽἹππηνῶν κώμας, he fires the villages of the Gadarenes and the
ippens.”
You see how, with Pliny, Josephus joins the region of
Decapolis to the side of Syria, and how he reckons Gadara
and Hippo for Decapolitan towns with him. And yet, as we
said, Pliny doth not please us in all: but that which in him
might seem most ridiculous and absurd, namely, that he
reckons Seythopolis, which is beyond Jordan, with the other
cities pleaseth me most of all. For from that very city we
are certified what were the other cities, and why they were
of such singular name and note: having first taken notice of
the condition of Seythopolis, it will be more easy to judge of
the rest.
y Joseph. in his own Life, pag. a Joseph. pag. 618. [c. 9. |
mihi 650. [ Hudson. p. 937.] [¢. 65. | > Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 418.
2 English folio edit., vol. il. p. 315.
954 Chorographical decad.
Seer. I.—Seythopolis, heretofore }RO IVA Beth-shean,
one of the Decapolitan cities.
Tue Talmudists very frequently propound the particular
example of the city Beth-shean, which is also called Seytho-
polis, (see the LXX in Judg. i. 27), and do always resolve it
to stand in a different condition from the other cities of the
land of Israel.
“ Rabbie (say they) looseth Beth-shean, Rabbi looseth
Ceesarea, Rabbi looseth Beth Gubrin, Rabbi looseth Caphar
Tsemach from the Demai;” that is, from the tithing of things
doubtful. Jarchi citing these words addeth these moreover;
“Ford all those places were like to Beth-shean, which the
Israelites subdued coming up out of Egypt; but they subdued
it not when they came out of Babylon.”
“R. Meire (say they) ate the leaves of herbs [not tithed]
in Beth-shean, and thenceforth Rabbi Meir loosed all Beth-
shean from tithing.” Upon which story thus Jarchi again ;
“R. Meri ate leaves in Beth-shean not tithed, because tithing
is not used out of the land of Israel.”’? Note this well, I pray;
that Beth-shean, which plainly was within the land of Israel,
yet is reckoned for a city which is out of the land of Israel,
and for a heathen city: and the reason is given, because, al-
though it were within the land, and came into the possession
of the Israelites in the first conquest of it, yet it came not
into their possession in their second conquest, but was always
inhabited by heathens. The same, with good grounds, we
judge of the rest of the cities of Decapolis, which were indeed
within the limits of Israelitic land, but which the Syrians
or heathens had usurped, and until then possessed. After
we have numbered some of those cities, the thing will appear
the more clearly.
But if you ask, by the way, who the inhabitants of Beth-
shean were when the Jews eame up out of Babylon; and
who would not, could not be subdued by the Jews. is a matter
of more obscure search: you would guess them to be Sey-
thians from the derivation of the word, and from the words
of Pliny: ‘* Seythopolis, heretofore Nysa, from Scythians
ς Hieros. Demai, fol. 22. 3. :
ἃ R. Sol. in Demai, c. 1. hal. 3. e Cholin, f. 6. 2.
Gadara. Hippo. 955
brought down thither.” But if you go to Herodotusf, dis-
coursing concerning the empire of the Scythians in Asia, and
especially in Palestine, you will find that that empire was
extinet when the grandfather of Cyrus was scarce born: that
it may seem more a wonder that the name of Scythopolis did
so flourish, when the Jews under Cyrus went back to their
own land. But concerning this matter we will not create
more trouble either to the reader or to ourselves.
Seer. I1].—Gadara and Hippo, cities of Decapolis.
So Pliny and Josephus in the words lately alleged out of
them: and so the evangelists not obscurely concerning Ga-
dara. For Mark saith, “ He began to preach in Decapolis ;”
Luke, “ He departed preaching throughout all the city of
Gadara.”
And that Gadara was of heathen jurisdiction, besides what
may be gathered out of those words of Josephus, may be
made out also from thence, that hogs were kept there in so
great a number, Matt. viii: the keeping of which was for-
bidden the Jews by the Talmndie canons, as well as the
eating them by the Mosaic law. Hence in our notes on
Mark v, we are not afraid to pronounce that possessed Gada-
rene to be a heathen; and that, if our conjecture fail us not,
upon good grounds.
That Hippo also was of heathen jurisdiction, the testi-
monies of the Jews concerning the city Susitha may suffi-
ciently argue: which as it is of the same signification with
the word Hippo, so without all doubt it is the same place.
So they write of its heathenism. ‘“ The’ land Tobh}, to which
Jephthah fled, is Susitha. And why is the name of it called
Tobh [that is, good]? because it is free from tithes.” And
whence came it to be free from tithe? because it was of hea-
then possession. For there was no tithing without the land,
that is, out of any place which belonged to the heathen. And
again, “If two witnessesi come forth out of a city, the greater
part of which consists of Gentiles, as Susitha,” &c.
f Herodot. in Clio, [i.] cap. 105, h Hieros. Sheviith, f. 36. 1.
106. i Id. Rosh Hashana. fol. 54. 4.
& English folio edit., vol. ii. p.316.
256 Chorographi cal decad.
Seer. 1V.—Pella, a city of Decapolis.
Puy numbers Pella also among the Decapolitan cities:
and so also doth Epiphanius*: and that it was of the same
condition under which, we suppose, the other Decapolitan
cities were put, namely, that it was inhabited by heathens,
the words of Josephus make plain: “The! Jews recovered
these cities of the Moabites from the enemy, Essebon, Me-
daba, Lemba, Oronas, Telithon, Zara, Cilicitum Aulon, Pella.
Ταύτην δὲ κατέσκαψαν, &e. But this (Pella) they overthrew,
because the inhabitants would not endure to be brought over
unto the customs of the country.” Behold the citizens of
Pella vigorously heathen, so that their city underwent a kind
of martyrdom, if 1 may so eall it, for retaining their hea-
thenism. And when it was restored under Pompey, it was
rendered back to the same citizens™, the same Josephus
bearing witness”.
But take heed, reader, that his words do not deceive you
concerning its situation; who writes thus of Perea, Mijxos μὲν
αὐτῆς ἀπὸ Μαχαιροῦντος εἰς Πέλλαν, “The? length of Perea is
from Macherus to Pella, and the northern coasts are bounded
at Pella:” that is, of Perea, as distinct from Trachonitis and
Batanea. For Pella was the furthest northern coast of
Perea, and the south coast of Trachonitis. Hence Josephus
reckons and ranks it together with Hippo, Dio, Seythopolis,
in the place before cited P.
There is no need to name more cities of Decapolis beyond
Jordan ; these things which have been said make sufficiently
for our opinion, both concerning the situation of the places.
and the nature of them. Let us only add this, while we are
conversant beyond Jordan, and about Pella: ‘‘ Ammon and
Moab (say the Gemarists4) tithe the tithe of the poor in the
seventh year,”? &e. Where the Gloss thus; “ Ammon and
Moab are Israelites who dwell in the land of Ammon and
Moab, which Moses took from Sichon. And that land was
holy, according to the holiness of the land of Israel: but
k piphan. de mensur. et ponder. n Tbid. lib. xiv. cap. 8. [xiv. 4. 4.]
cap. Is. © Id. de Bello, lib. 11]. cap. 4.
1 Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 23. [Hud- [iii. 3. 3.]
son, p.599-] [xili. 15. 4.] P Antiq. [xiv. 4. 4.]
m [eusden’s edition, vol. il. p.419. 4 Jevamoth, fol. 16. 1.
Caphar Tsemach. Beth Gubrin. Caphar Carnaim. 257
under the second Temple its holiness ceased. They sow it,
therefore, the seventh year; and they appoint thence the
first tithe, and the poor’s tithe the seventh year, for the main-
tenance of the poor; who have not a corner of the field left,
nor a gleaning that year: thither therefore the poor betake
themselves, and have there a corner left, and a gleaning, and
the poor’s tithe.”
We produce this, for the sake of that story which relates
how the Christians fled from the siege and slaughter of Jeru-
salem to Pella. And why to Pella? Certainly if that be
true which obtains among the Jews, that the destruction of
Jerusalem was MY .3W ‘in the seventh year,’ which was
the year of release, when on this side Jordan they neither
ploughed nor sowed, but beyond Jordan there was a harvest,
and a tithing for the poor, &c.; hence one may fetch a more
probable reason of that story than the historians themselves
give ; namely, that those poor Christians resorted thither for
food and sustenence, when husbandry had ceased that year in
Judea and Galilee. But we admire the story, rather than
acquiesce in this reason.
Sect. V.—Caphar Tsemach. Beth Gubrin. Caphar
Carnain.
We neither dare, nor indeed ean, number up all the cities
of Decapolis of the same condition with Beth-shean: yet the
Jerusalem Talmudists fix and rank these three under the
same condition with it, in those words which were alleged
before, Caphar Carnaim excepted, of which afterward.
1. ΠῺΣ ADD Caphar Tsemach. Wet something be observed
of its name out of R. Solomon.
1. In the Jerusalem Talmudists it is Maz 75 Caphar
Tsemach ; but R. Solomon citing them reads Dy 7D
Caphar Amas; which one would wonder at. But this is not
so strange to the Chaldee and Syriae dialect, with which it is
very usual to change αὶ (Tsade) into y (Ain). So that the
Rabbin in the pronouncing of this word Dy Amas, plays the
Syrian in the first letter, and the Grecian in the last, ending
the word in D (Samech) for M (Cheth).
2. We* dare pronounce nothing confidently of the situa-
τ English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 317.
LIGHTEOOT, VOL. 1. 3
258 Chorographical decad.
tion of the place: we have only said this of it before, that it
is reckoned by the Jerusalem writers among NYVON Ny
Owns: “the cities forbidden in the borders ;” perhaps, ἐν
ὁρίῳ in the coast, of which before: but I resolve nothing.
ET; pun Iva Beth Gubrin. The situation of this place
also is unknown. There was a Gabara about Ceesarea Phi-
lippi, called by the Rabbins adoy shonin Tarnegola the
Upper. But we dare not confound words and places. It is
famous for R. Jochanans’ of Beth Gubrin, who said, “ There
are four noble tongues,” &e.
TI. ἸΝῸ MAD OW Ws “ Caphar Karnaim (sayt the
Jerusalem Talmudists) is of the same condition with Beth-
shean ;”’ that is, of heathen jurisdiction.
And now let the reader judge whether these were some
of the Decapolitan cities.) Whether they were or no, we
neither determine, nor are we much solicitous about it: that
which we chiefly urge is, that, by the places before men-
tioned, it appears, as I suppose, that the cities of Decapolis
were indeed within the limits of the land of Israel, but in-
habited by Gentiles. Jews indeed dwelt with them, but
fewer in number, inferior in power, and not so free both in
their possessions and privileges. And if you ask the reason
why they would dwell in such an inferiority with the heathens,
take this: “The Rabbins deliver. Let one always live in
the land of Israel, though it be in a city the greatest part
of which are heathens. And let not a man dwell without
the land, yea, not in a city the greatest part of which are
Israelites. For he that lives in the land of Israel hath
God; but he that lives without the land is as if he had not
God; as it is said, ‘To give you the land of Canaan, that
God may be with you,’” &c. Would you have more reasons?
‘‘ Whosoever* lives within the land of Israel is absolved from
iniquity. And whosoever is buried within the land of Israel
is as if he were buried under the altar.” Take one for all:
‘They men of Israel are very wise; for the very climate
makes wise.” O most wise Rabbins!
5. Hieros. Megil. 71. 2. x Ibid. f. 111.1.
t Id. Demai, fol. 22. 3. y Gloss. in Bab. Sanhedr. f. 5. 1.
ἃ Bab. Chetub. fol. 110. 2.
The city Orbo.
2
Ot
<2
Secr. VI.z—Cesarea Philippi.
Tus city also is of the same rank with Beth-shean in the
Talmudists : and Ptolemy besides encourages us to number
it among the cities of Decapolis, who reckons it among the
cities of Midland Pheenicia ; and Josephus, who, in his own
Life, intimates Syrians to be its inhabitants. We correct here
that which elsewhere slipped us, namely, that the Arabic
interpreter, while he renders Oxsarea for Hazor, Josh. xi. 1,
may be understood of ‘ Cesarea of Strato,’ when he seems
rather to respect this Ceesarea.
And now, from what has been said, think with yourself,
reader, what is to be resolved concerning those words of
St. Mark, “ Jesus went from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon
unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of
Decapolis :” think, I say, and judge, whether by the ‘ coasts
of Tyre and Sidon,’ any place can be understood at the very
gates of Sidon; and not rather some place not very remote
from Czesarea Philippi. And judge again, whether Deca-
polis ought to be placed within Galilee, and not rather (with
Pliny and Josephus) that a great part of it at least ought
not to be placed in the country beyond Jordan; and if any
part of it stood in Galilee, whether it ought not to be placed
in the utmost northern coast of it, except only Scythopolis,
or Beth-shean.
Secr. VII.—The city \A9y Orbo.
By occasion of the mention of Beth-shean, I cannot but
subjoin the mention of the city ἽΝ from the words of ἢ.
Judah, in the place at the margin :—“ R. Judah saith,
CINyY the ravens (or the people of Orbo) brought bread and
flesh, morning and evening, to Elias. [1 Kings xvii. 6.] YY
JAAY ΟῚ INW MI DWNA NW That city was in the bor-
ders of Beth-shean, and was called Orbo.”
Some Jews raise a scruple whether ravens brought Elias
bread and flesh, or men called may Ravens. So Kinm-
chi upon the place: “ There are some, who, by ὩΞ ΔῊΝ
understand merchants, according to that which is said, Say
z [,eusden’s edition, vol. 11. p. 420. a Beresh. Rabba, sect. 33.
§ 2
260 Chorographical decad.
JW ‘ The men of Orbo of thy merchandise,’ Ezek. xxvii.
27. Hence you may smell the reason why the Arabie renders
it Orabimos [eres |. To which sense our R. Judah, who
thinks that they were not ravens, but the inhabitants of the
city of Orbo, that ministered to Elias. But here the objection
of Kimehi holds: ‘God commanded Elias (saith he), that he
should hide himself, that none should know that» he was there.
And we see that Ahab sought him every where,” &e.
But omitting the triflingness of the dream, we are search-
ing after the chorographical concern: and if there be any
truth in the words of R. Judah, that there was a city JAY
Orbo by name near Beth-shean, we find the situation of the
brook Cherith,—or, at least, where he thought it ran. That
brook had for ever laid hid in obscurity, had not Elias lay
hid near it; but the place of it as yet lies hid. ‘There are
some maps which fix it beyond Jordan, and there are others
fix it on this side; some in one place, and some in another,
uncertainly, without any settled place. But I especially
wonder at Josephus, who saith, that ἀνεχώρησεν εἰς τὰ πρὸς
νότον μέρη. ποιούμενος Tapa χειμάρρῳ τινὶ THY διατριβήν" “ he&
went away towards the north, and dwelt near a certain
brook ;’ when God ia plain words saith, And thou shalt
turn thee, or go towards the east, WIT 12 TIH1: for he
was now in Samaria, God adds, “ Hide thee at the brook
Cherith, FIVWIM22 by TW which is before Jordan.” So,
you will say, was every brook that flowed into Jordan. But
the sense of those words, *‘ which is before Jordan,” is this,
“ which (brook), as thou goest to Jordan, is flowing into it
on this side Jordan.” So that although the Rabbin mis-
takes concerning the creatures that fed Elias, yet perhaps
he does not so mistake concerning the place where the brook
was.
The story of the Syropheenician woman, beseeching our
Saviour for her possessed daughter, and of his return thence
by Decapolis to the sea of Galilee, hath occasioned a dis-
course of ‘ the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and the region of
Deeapolis” And now, having finished the search after the
places, let us speak one word of the woman herself. She is
b English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 318. ¢ Antiq. lib. viii. [viii. 13. 2.]
The measures of the Jews. 201
called by Mark Ἑλληνὶς Συροφοίνισσα, “ a Syrophcenician
Greek,’ which is without all scruple; but when she is called
Xavavaia, ‘ a Canaanitish woman,’ by Matthew, that is
somewhat obscure. If those things which in our animad-
versions upon Matthew we have said upon that place do
not please any, let these things be added: 1. That Canaan
and Phoenicia are sometimes convertible terms in the Seventy,
Joshua iv. 1,12, ὅδ. 2. If I should say that ‘EAAnvis, ὦ
Greek woman, and Xavavaia, a Canaanitish woman, were
also convertible terms, perhaps it may be laughed at; but it
would not be so among the Jews, who call all men-servants
and women-servants, not of Hebrew blood, Canaanites. It
is a common distinction, \2y Wy a Hebrew servant, and
ἜΣ Way ὦ Canaanite servant; and so in the feminine sex.
But now ὦ Canaanite servant, say they, is a servant of any
nation besides the Hebrew nation. Imagine this woman
to be such, and there is nothing obscure in her name: be-
cause she was a servant-woman of a heathen stock, and
thence commonly known among the Jews under the title
M dYI3 TAMDW of « Canaanite woman-servant.
CHAP Ville
Some measurings.
I. The measures of the Jews. Wl. Their measuring of the
land by diets. 111. And the measuring of the length of the
land within Jordan. IV. Ptolemy consulted and amended.
V. Pliny to be corrected. VI. The length of the land out of
Antoninus. VII. The breadth of the ways. VIII. The dis-
tance of the sepulchres from the cities.
Secr. I1.—The measures of the Jews.
Ir obtained among the Jews, “ That4 the land of Israel
contained the square of four hundred parse.” And they are
delighted, | know not how nor why, with this number and
measure. “ Jonathan Ben Uzziele® interpreted from the
mouth of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi ; and the land of
Israel was moved four hundred parse every way. WIV
noma masa Ἢ 5y mov minn ἪΝ “Whenf a hog was
drawn up upon the walls of Jerusalem, and fixed his hoofs
© Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 421. © Megill. f. 3.1.
4 Gloss. in Bava Mezia, fol. 28. 1. f Bava Kama, fol. 82. 2.
262 Chorographical decad.
upon them, the land of Israel shook four hundred parse
every way.”
MO 5 A parsa contains in it four miles. “ Ten parse}
(saith the Gloss at the place in the margin) are forty miles :”
which might be proved largely elsewhere, if need were.
So that four hundred parse (or so many thirty furlongs),
made a thousand six hundred miles. Which measure why
they ascribed it to the land of Israel on every side of the
square of it, whether from the measurings of Ezekiel, or
from somewhat else, we do not here inquire. But we can-
not but observe this, that the same number is mentioned,
and perhaps the same measure understood, Rev. xiv. 20:
* Blood issued out of the lake to the horses’ bridles, for a
thousand six hundred furlongs.” Where the Arabic reads,
Klekug CUS Jlrol “for the space of a thousand six hundred
miles.”
The Talmudists measure sometimes by miles, sometimes by
parses, sometimes by diets. Every one of these you will meet
with in them very frequently.
Of the Talmudie mile, take this admonition of theirs: ITN
sO ST ON So. AMD) yaw namely, that “ it
consistedi” (not of eight, as the Greek and Roman did, but)
“ of seven furlongs and a half’ For by what other word to
render O°> [ know not; nor do I think it to be rendered by
any other.
And of the diet, take this: ““ R. Jochanan* saith, 75
Ova ΘΝ qbnn How much is a man’s journey in one day ?
MNO AD Ὁ den parses. From the first dawning of the morn.
ing to sun-rise, five miles. From sun-set until stars appear,
five miles. : Nor sob sexe roven poon md owe
There remain thirty. Fifteen from morning to noon. \ONIMN
ΝΙΝ Nov NID Fifteen from noon till even.” Be-
hold a day’s journey of forty miles in one sense, that is, as
much as may be despatched in one day; and of thirty in an-
other, that is, as much as most usually was wont to be de-
spatched. Where you are admonished by them also, that
these are computed 39392 OVS “ according to the equinoctial
day.”
& English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 319. i Bava Mezia, fol. 33. 1.
h Gloss. in Pesach. fol. 93. 2. k Pesachin, fol. 93. 2.
Measuring of the land by diets. 268
They feign!, that Saul in one day travelled sixty miles,
as the Israelites did also from Jordan to mount Gerizim: but
most commonly they judge the diet to be according to what
was said, namely, that under it are as oda laps: thirty
miles.
And hither let those passages pe br rahe Te Se eS
APN “ What™ is a long way? 5) Oy AN }7 From
Modim” (the sepulchres of the Maccabees) “ and forward ;
and, according to this measure, on every side. He saith,
moreover: From Modim to Jerusalem were fifteen miles.”
The dispute is upon that, Numb. ix. 10, where it is com-
manded, that every one keep the Passover in the first month,
unless he be unclean, FM FVII WS “ or in a long way ;”
and it is concluded, that by a Jong way is to be understood
the distance of fifteen’ miles at the least, which was the half
of a common diet.
Secor. U.—The Jews’ measuring out the land by diets.
In the place noted™ in the margin, the masters ask, “" How
long is any bound to make known, by public outery, concern-
ing something found? R. Judah saith, Three feasts, and
seven days after the last feast : namely, three days for any to
go home to seek whether he hath lost any thing, and three
days to come back [to Jerusalem], and that still one day
might remain for public outery.” (The Gloss is, ‘ That he
might make an outery,—I lost such a thing, and these are
the marks of it.’) “ But they object, the third day of the
month Marchesvan they pray for rains. Rabban Gamaliel
saith, The seventh of that month, which is the fifteenth day
from the Feast of Tabernacles: namely, that the last of all
the Israelites [who came up to the feast] might go to Euphra-
tes, and not be caught by the rains.”
It is presumed by this tradition, that the utmost bounds of
the land of Israel was within three days’ journey” of Jeru-
salem: nor amiss: and under the same condition the utmost
bounds of the land beyond Jordan are reckoned; namely,
that they exceeded not that distance; but how much they
' Midr. Till. fol. 7. 4. Gloss in n Bava Mezia, fol. 28.1.
Sanhedr. fol. 44. 1. ° Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p.
m Pesach. in the place above. 422.
264 Chorographical decad.
came short of it is left in doubt. It is not my purpose to
determine of that business in this place: that which we
pursue is, to measure out the breadth of the land within
Jordan.
Secor. I1—TheTalmudists’ measuring the breadth of the
land within Jordan.
Tuere was a tradition and national custom famous among
them, concerning which we have mention somewhere, DD
sz 52S srs oy pon vbwrnd bay spn cyan « Thata
a vineyard of four years old, should go up to Jerusalem in a
day's journey on every side.” The sense of the tradition is
this; the second tithes were either to be eaten at Jerusalem,
or. being sold at home, the money was to be brought to Jeru-
salem, whence some things were bought to be eaten there.
Now provision is made by this canon’, that the tithes of
vineyards which were within a diet of the city, should not be
sold, but that they should be brought to Jerusalem and eaten
there.
But TAN NTT WV UN * What are the bounds, say they,
of that day’s journey ‘
PDT Po Ms ‘ Elath on the south.’
SHES PO FA py ‘ Acrabat on the north.
alan bey aa 1 a5 « Lydda on the west.’
ΠΣ yo fant: Jordan on the east.’ ”
So both Misnas. But the Babylonian Gemara, in the
placess noted in the margin, reads PSL 1 nb - Klath
on the north, Acrabat on the south.” By what reason, and
in what sense, these words agree, commentators endeavour to
resolve obscurely enough; but it is not of so much moment
to detain us.
Elath recalls to my mind some things which are spoken by
the Notitia of the eastern empire. Where, “ under the dis-
position of the honourable man, the duke of Palestine,” is
substituted, among others, * Preefectus legionis decime Fre-
tensis Ail, The lieutenant of the tenth Fretensian legion at
Aila.”. Where Pancirolus writes, that “ Aila was seated on
the shore of the Red sea.” St. Jerome, upon Ezek. xlvii.
writes thus; “the tongue of the Red sea, on the shore of
4 Maasar Sheni, cap. 5. hal. 2. ¥ English folio edition, vol. 11. p. 320.
5. Bezah, fol. 5.1. Rosh Hashanah, fol. 31. 2.
Ptolemy consulted and amended. 265
which Aila is seated, where a Roman legion and garrison
is now quartered.” And the same father elsewheret; ‘ Aila
(saith he) is in the utmost borders of Palestine, joined to
the south desert, and the Red sea, whence men sail out of
Egypt into India, and thence into Egypt. And there also is
a Roman legion ealled Decima,” the tenth.
We dare not contradict so great an oracle; otherwise my
thoughts would run back to this our Klath: and that upon
this reason especially, because it seems somewhat hard to sub-
stitute a garrison at the Red sea “under the duke of Pales-
tine,’ when that was so far distant from Palestine, and since
there was a ‘duke of Arabia’ (in which Elath at the Red sea
was) as well as of Palestine.
You see the Fathers of the traditions measuring from
Lydda by Jerusalem to Jordan in a double diary: but here
also they leave us again at uncertainties of the breadth of
the land; beeause Lydda was not upon the utmost coast
of the land on that side. Unless, perhaps, you might say,
that whatsoever space went between Lydda and the sea was
ΟΠ mw “the region of the sea,” esteemed as heathen
land; when Caphar Lodim, which was seated in that interval,
and not far from Lydda, was of no better account¥. Let us
get therefore, if we can, more certain accounts, and more
faithful direction.
Secr. 1V.— Ptolemy consulted and amended.
Ir would be ridiculous so much as to dream, that the
breadth of this land is every where the same: since the seas
bounding on all sides, here the Mediterranean, there that of
Sodom, the sea of Gennesaret, the sea of Samochonitis, and
Jordan gliding between them, cannot but make the space very
unequal by their various windings.
Take a proof of this from Ptolemy in the Mediterranean
shore * :—
Thus he:
Kaicdpeta Stpdtwvos που OES 8
5 , / 4
lon aR Siang cow eS lee εὗρε Ἢ ΞΕ
ἐἸομρειτο ANAL ode) cl -ga ck RO
ΠΟ ΠΥ ok. iacn) 54 liens ees
1 Cr AL Bian Mey erect sy e480 S45)
* De loc. Hebr. " Gittin. cap. 1. hal. τ. x Tabb. Asie, cap. 6.
266 Chorographical decad.
Thus the Latin version of him:
Ceesarea Stratonis °° oi. 1... on ss een
Joppa oe ee eo a er ce
Jamnetorum portus. The haven of the Jamnites . 65.
Gazeorum portus. The haven of the Gazites . . 64.45.
Grazie st i: κα ον ἀπ: ὁ.
And more of the like variation.
Of the last, namely, of ‘the haven of the Gazites,’ and Gaza
itself, we may justly be at some stand. In Ptolemy himself,
as you see, ‘ the haven of the Gazites’ is in & ς΄ 65.45. But
the Latin interpreter hath 64. 45:—nor indeed without reason,
when Gaza itself is only in 65.26. But indeed, on the con-
trary, it is more probable that the haven of the Gazites
should be placed in 65. 26, and Gaza itself in 65.45; where,
by the Aaven is by no means to be understood that place
where shipsy put in and unladed, but the whole bay, compre-
hended within the promontories that thrust themselves out
into the sea; the very last point of which thrusting forth
you may conceive to be in deg. 65. and 26: from the city
19 minutes.
If, therefore, you are minded to follow Ptolemy with this
amendment. in measuring out the breadth of the land be-
tween Gaza and Asphaltites, take it thus. Let Gaza be inz
deg. 65. 45. And in him also, ᾿Ασφαλτίτιδος τὸ μέσον ἐπέχει
μοίρας ἕς΄ ν. The Latin version is, “ Asphaltitis medium
continet gradus 66. 50. ‘The middle of Asphaltites contains
degrees 66. 50.” From Gaza, therefore, to the middle of the
Dead sea, will be a whole degree and ἐστ minutes; to which
65 miles, 5 minutes, do answer: whence if you withdraw the
half of the Asphaltites, there will remain 65 miles, or there-
abouts, from the shore of it to Gaza.
Secr. V.— Pliny to be corrected.
Anp here I cannot but amend the reading of Pliny, or at
least shew that it wants mending; in whom we read thus ;
“ Deinde* Nabatzei oppidum,” &e. “ Thence the Nabateans
inhabit the town called Petra, the Rock, in a valley little less
than two miles in bigness, surrounded with inaccessible moun-
tains, a river running between. It is distant from Gaza, a
Υ Leusden’s edition, vol. il. p. 423. 2 English folio edit., vol. it. p. 321.
a Nat. Hist. lib. vi. cap. 28.
Pliny to be corrected. 267
town of our shore, DC miles: from the Persian bay, CX XII
miles. Two double ways meet here; the way of those who
went to Palmyra of Syria; and of those who came from
Gaza.” . Those words, “it is distant from Gaza,” &c. are
they with which we have to do.
What! siz hundred miles from Gaza to Petra, the metro-
polis of the Moabites? I wonder the very learned Heidman>
should so softly swallow down these words, and that without
any regret. But let me have leave to conjecture that Pliny,
in his own copy, wrote thus, “ It is distant from Gaza, a town
of our shore, CX.M:” but by the carelessness of the tran-
scribers, the numerical letter X was cut into two parts, after
this manner, )(, and the left half of it, at length, closed in
with the former C, in this manner (), and so at last passed
into D; and the other right-hand half remained thus, C, and
was reckoned for a hundred.
However we may mistake in our conjecture, yet certainly
concerning the space and number of the miles, we do not so
mistake. For allow thirty-eight miles, or thereabouts, be-
tween Petra and Asphaltites, and grant twenty miles, or
thereabouts, to the breadth of that sea (that we may go
something in the middle between Pliny and Josephus con-
cerning the breadth of it), then there will remain of the
hundred and ten miles which we suppose Pliny wrote, fifty-
two miles, or thereabout, from that sea to Gaza: which is
not far from the mark. But the mark is vastly overshot,
when six hundred miles are assigned from Gaza to Petra.
You will surely favour our computation, and conjecture of
the injury done Pliny by the transcribers, when you shall
have observed, that the first shore of Gaza is, according to
Ptolemy, as we have said, in degr. 65. 26; and Petra is only
in degr. 66. 45.
Let us, therefore, grant fifty-two or fifty-three miles, or
thereabouts, for the breadth of the land from the shore of the
Mediterranean sea to the Asphaltites: you must allow some
more miles between the Mediterranean shore and Jordan:
because by how much the more broad the Asphaltites is, so
much the less broad is the land; and the same must be said
of the sea of Gennesaret and Samochonitis. And Galilee is
Ὁ See Heidman., Palest. c.7. §. 6.
908 Chorographical decad.
not only straitened according as they are enlarged ; but it is
straitened also by the territories of Tyre and Sidon running
between it and the sea.
So that it would be in vain to trace out an exact breadth
of the land every where ; and it would be ridiculous to mea-
sure it by any one measure or extension. It is well enough,
if one come near the thing by some convenient guess here
and there, or err not much of it.
The determination of the length of the land seems more
sure, while it is measured out by towns and cities, from Sidon
to the river of Egypt: but here also is not the same space to
all; and in some places the measuring is very uncertain.
Secr. Vl.e—The length of the land, out of Antoninus.
Thus the Itinerary of Antoninus :—
From Sidon to Tyre Se οὐ 24 miles.
To Ptolemais . . ae τ ὩΣ
Sicammnats, “este aoe ener
Cresarea ΤῊΝ τος ΣΎ PEDO
Betaro ΕΒ τ ἘΣ ἘΣ
Diospoli a eRe 70
Liamnia ΣῊΝ ΘΝ Ὁ ee
Asealon Wier eens Le ce
Gaza ον 7. ΟΝ ee See, Gc eet
apa ai) ve ees Sea eee
Rhinecolura: *)4/0.0 sea. oe ον
232
We have elsewhere measured out this space by the cords
of Pliny and Strabo, less than this number by thirteen
miles : where if some mistake hath erept into the computa-
tion, let Gulielmus Tyrius bear the blame, who stretched
the bounds of Pheenicia four or five miles only from Tyre
southward.
But what shall we say of another Itinerary? Which whether
it be Antoninus’s I dare not define; where it is thus,
From Cesarea to Betaron 31 miles:
To Diogpolis 120.45 “= eS mules
exceeding the former computation nine-and-twenty miles.
© English folio edition, vol. 11, p. 322.
Breadth of the ways. 269
There is somewhat there also, which how to reconcile with
Josephus, it is not easy to shew: for it is said,
From4 Neapolis to Atlia 30 _-miles,
To Eleutheropolis . . . 20 miles,
fo Asealon. Sees") o>'. 4 2qcanules.
Where from A#lia or Jerusalem to Ascalon run out only 44
miles; whereas Josephus saith of Ascalon, that it was τῶν
ἹΙεροσυλύμων εἴκοσι πρὸς τοῖς πεντακοσίοις ἀπέχουσα σταδίους,
“distante from Jerusalem 520 furlongs,” or 65 miles. This
breach is a little filled up by this; that New Asealon was
nearer to Jerusalem than the old by sixteen miles, as Ben-
jamin relates.
Whether Betaron were the same with 353 Setar, where
that horrible slaughter was under Ben Cozba, we will not
dispute here: there is no doubt to be made but Liamnia is
illy writ for Jamnia. And now let us follow Antoninus to
Pelusiuin :—
Rhinocolura
Ostracena . = - 24 miles,
Cassio Sito casa! 26 mules,
Pentascino . . . 20 miles,
ΒΕ στον 2. . 20 miles.
Which how they agree with Pliny, who numbers only sixty-
five miles from Pelusium to the ending of Arabia, viz. to
the Sirbon, on which Rhinocolura borders, I shall not take
upon me to say. This I have said elsewhere, that it is a
wonder that some maps should place the Sirbon between
Cassius and Pelusium, when the contrary manifestly appears
both here and in Pliny and Strabo. Perhaps they took the
error from Ptolemy, or at least from his interpreter, in whom
Cassius is in latitude, degr. 31.15: but the breaking out of
the Sirbon in 31. to.
Sect. VIL.f- The breadth of the ways.
“Turs Rabbins deliver. A private way (THVT JN) 15
four cubits. A way from a city to a city is eight cubits. A
public way (ὉΔῚ JVI) is sixteen cubits. The way to the
ἃ Leusden’s edition, vol. 11. p. 424. f English folio edit., vol. 11. p. 323.
e De Bell. lib. iii. c. 2. [iii. 2. 1.] & Bay. Bathra, fol. 100.
270 Chorographical decad.
cities of refuge is two-and-thirty cubits. The king’s way
hath no measure: for the king may break down hedges to
make himself a way. And the way to a sepulchre hath no
measure, NIVDWTI NAP? OW" for the honour of the dead.”
Compare Matt. vil. 13, 14.
There was this difference between ὦ way from a city to a
city, and DAN TV ἃ public way; that a public way was
that along which all cities passed; a way from a city to a city
was that along which this city passed to that, and that to
this, but no other city passed that way.
“That way from a city to a city was eight cubits (saith the
Gloss), that if haply two chariots met, there might be space
to pass.”
The way to a sepulchre had no measure, that those that
attended the corpse might not be separated by reason of the
straitness of the way. They add, WON MDS I TYNAN
pap Ἢ moa “A station, as the judges of Zippor say, is as
much as contains four cabes.” By station, they understand
the place where those that return from the sepulchre stand
about the mourner to comfort him. PR MMW) Oy
omby (sw For® men-servants and women-servants
they do not stand, nor for them do they say the blessing of
the mourners.” The Gloss is, “ When they returned from
the sepulchre, ΓΛ Ὁ WT they stood in rows com-
forting him. And that row consisted not of less than ten.
They made him sit, and they stood about himi,.”
ἜΡ ‘J ma “A piece of ground containing four eabes of
seed (saith the Gloss), is thirty-three cubits and two hand-
breadths broad, and fifty long.”
Sreor. VIII.—The distance of sepulchres from cities.
Buryine-piaces’ “ were not near the cities,” 372 VY nb
sys ΞΗ ΞΘ MN Ap. They are the words of the Glosser
upon Kiddushin in the place quoted ; and that upon this tra-
dition : * For all the thirty days he is carried in his mother’s
bosom, and is buried by one woman and two men; but not
by one man and two women.” ‘The sense is this, An infant
h Beracoth, fol. τό. 2. i Gloss. in Chetubh. fol. 8. 2.
k Gloss. in Kiddush. fol. 80. 2.
‘
i]
.
5
᾽
i
J
‘
i
The Roman garrisons. 271
dying before the thirtieth day of his age hath no need of a
bier, but is carried in his mother’s bosom to burial, two men
accompanying ; but he is not carried by two women, one man
only accompanying. And this reason is given; because when
the burying-places were a good way distant from the city,
it might happen that two women might be enticed by one
man to commit whoredom, when they were now out of the
sight of men; but two men would not so readily conspire to
defile one woman.
They produce examples: “ A certain woman (say they)
carried out a living infant as though it were dead, to play
the whore with him who accompanied her to the place of
burial.”—And, “ Ten men took up a living woman as though
she were dead, that they might lie with her.” Certainly thou
forgettest thyself, O Jew, when one while thou sayest that
two men would scarcely conspire together for the defiling the
same woman, and other while that ten men did.
The burying-places were distant two thousand cubits from
the Levitical cities; from all other cities a great space, if not
the same. How far Jerusalem agreed with these in this
matter, or not agreed, we must observe elsewhere.
CHAP. EX!
Some places scatteringly noted.
I. The Roman garrison. 11. Zin}. Cadesh OD.
IIT. (8 Ono.
Secr. I. The Roman garrisons.
Brine to speak of some places, scatteringly taken notice of
here and there, let us begin with the Roman garrisons, which
were dispersed all the land over: and this we do the rather,
because the Notitia Imperii, whence they are transcribed, is
not so common in every one’s hand.
NOCTELA.
Under the command of the honourable person,
the duke of Palestine.
Equites Dalmatee Illyriciani Berosabe.
Equites Promoti IIlyriciani Menoide.
1 Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 423. English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 324.
272 Chorographical decad.
Equites Seutarii Illyriciani Chermule.
Equites Mauri Illyriciani Aélie.
Equites Thamudeni Illyriciani Bitsanee.
Equites Promoti Indigenze Sabaice.
Equites Promoti Indigenze Zodocathee.
Equites Sagittarii Indigenze Havanze.
Equites Sagittarii Indigenz Zoare.
Equites primi Felices Sagittarii Indigenz Palestine Sabure,
sive Veterocariz.
quites Sagittarii Indigenze Mohaile.
Preefectus Legionis Decimze Fretensis Ail.
And those that are taken out of the lesser Muster-roll.
Ala prima miliaria Sebastena Asuade.
Ala Antana Dromedariorum Admathe.
Ala Constantiniana Tolohze.
Ala seeunda Felix Valentiniana apud Preesidium.
Ala Prima miliaria hastie.
Ala Idiota constitute.
Cohors Duodecima Valeria Afro.
Cohors Decima Carthaginiensis Carthe.
Cohors Prima Centenaria Tarbee.
Cohors Quarta Phrygum Preesidic.
Cohors Secunda Gratiana Jehybo.
Cohors Prima equitata Calamone.
Cohors Secunda Galatarum Arieldele.
Cohors Prima Flavia Moleahe.
Cohors Secunda Cretensis juxta Jordanem fluvium.
Cohors Prima Salutaria inter Xliam et Hierichunta.
The Office stands thus :—
Principem de Schola Agentium in rebus.
Numerarios et Adjutores eorum.
Commentariensem.
Adjutorem.
A libellis, sive subseribendarium.
Exceptores, et caeteros Officiales.
All this out of Notitia.
Zin. Cadesh. 273
Secr. II.™—Zin ps Cadesh D/7%.
Tuese places are named in the line bounding the land
southward. Numb. xxxiy. and Josh. xv.
The Jews teach us, that it was called the ‘Desert of Zin’
from a mountain of that name, and that the mountain was
so called from the groves of palm-trees; and that it was
famous for iron mines. For those words, Numb. xxxiv. 4,
may ay) “ And pass on to Zin,” are rendered by the Jeru-
salem Targumist, soi an ayn ‘“ And the border passed
on to the mountain of Tron.” By Jonathan, spe a a
sone iw “And passed on to the palms of the mountain
of Iron.” —5}°¥, in the Talmudists, are lesser palms.—Rabh™
Judah saith, He that sells a farm to his neighbour, must
write, Possess to thyself, PHY PLM poxm poo7.”—Let
the Aruch be an interpreter for us :—
“p57 are loftier palm-trees.
i soy are the rest of the greater trees.
: ΤῊ are the rest of the smaller trees.
“ w95¥ are the smaller palm-trees.”
And the Talmudists again MWS by VT I “Thee
palms of the mountain of Iron are fit,” to make a bunch to
hold in the hand in the feast of Tabernacles. Where the
Gloss,—}°E are smaller pals.
It seems, therefore, to be some mountainous tract, very
near to the borders of the land of Israel, famous for palms of
a lower size, and iron-mines, called, from its palm-trees, ΤΣ
Tsin, and from that name giving a denomination to the adja-
cent country, which was desert.
Cadesh, in the eastern interpreters DP Rekam, was a
bound of the land; yet Cadesh itself was, in effect, without
the land. Hence those words, “ HeP that brings a bill from
a heathen place, &c.; yea, that brings it from Rekam.” And,
“ Alla the spots that come from Rekam are clean.” The
Gloss is, ‘‘Some spots in the garments” (namely, of a proflu-
vious woman) “ which came from Rekam were clean, because
they determined not of the spots of strangers.” Another
m English folio edition, vol. i. p. © Succah, cap. 3. hal. 1.
25s P Gittin, cap. 1. hal. 1.
n Bava Bathra, fol. 69. 2. a Jevam. fol. 16.1.
LIGHTFOOT, VOL. I. Tr
274 Chorographical decad.
Gloss thus: ‘In Rekam were Israelites; and yet spots
coming from Rekam are clean, because they belong to Israel-
ites, and the Israelites hide their spots,” &e.
Cades, as Bridenbachius relates, is called Cawatha by the
Arabians: for thus he writes ; “ At length we came into a cer-
tain country, which, in the Arabian tongue, is called Cawatha,
but in the Latin Cades.”. Which while we read, those things
come into my mind which the eminent Edward Pocock, a
man of admirable learning, discourseth concerning the word
Kawa [5 5 |, in his very learned Miscellaneous Notes*, that it
should signify crying aloud, an outcry, ὅσο. To which whether
the word ΓΙ Δ Gohe and My} (whereby Rekam is also called),
that denotes bellowing, may any way answer, it is more fit for
that great oracle of tongues to judge than for so mean a man
as I am.
Secr. IIT.—iN8 Ono.
“Ono wast distant three miles from Lydda. R. Jacob"
Ben NNO Dositheus said, From Lydda to Ono are three
miles; and I, on a certain time, went thither before day-
break, up to the ankles in honey of figs.” R. Simai* and
R. Zadok went to intercalate the year in Lydda, and kept
the Sabbath in Ono.”
The Talmudists suppose this city was walled down from
the days of Joshua; but fired in the war of Gibeah: because
it is said, “ All the cities also, to which they came, they set
on fire,” Judg. xx. 48; but that it was rebuilt by Elpaal, a
Benjamite, 1 Chron. viii. 12; “ἘΠ. Lazar Ben R. Josah saith,
It was destroyed in the days of the concubine in Gibeah; but
Elpaal stood forth and repaired it.”
With Lod and Ono is also joined OWN NQ or, “ The
valley of craftsmen,” Neh. xi. 35; which some of the Jews
suppose to be a particular city; and that it was walled from
the days of Joshua. ‘“ But saith R. Chananiah, in the name of
R. Phineas, Lod and Ono DOWANN NY 7 themselves are the
calley of craftsmen.” That R. Chananiahy was JN WN a
¥ Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 426. ἃ Bab. Chetub. fol. 3. 2.
S Pag. 48. 49, &c. [ Works, vol. i. x Cholin, fol. 56.2. Hieros. Me-
p. 146. ed. 1740. | gill. fol. 70. 5.
t Juchas, fol. 39. 2. y Juchas. in the place above.
Ono. Qo
citizen of the city of Ono, eminent among the Rabbins, “ one
of the five learned who judged before the wise men. These
were Ben Azzai, Ben Zuma, Chanan, and Chananiah, and
Ben Nanas.”
Why the maps placed Lod and Ono near Jordan, not far
from Jericho, I can meet with no other reason than that in
Josephus is found the town Adida, not far from thence, and
Hadid is reckoned with Lod and Ono in Ezra ii. 33; and Lod
and Hadid are framed into? one word Aodadi, Lodadi, Ezra
ii. 33, and Aodadld, Lodadid, Neh. vii. 37, by the Seventy in-
terpreters. But there were more places called by the name of
Adida; so that that reason fails, if that were the reason. For
there was ᾿Αδιδὰ ἐν τῇ Σεφήλᾳ, ‘ Adida in Sephel, (‘ Adida in
the valley) ;’ and, ᾿Αδιδὰ πόλις ἐπ᾽ ὄρους κειμένη. “The city
Adida in the mountain ; ὑφ᾽ ἧς ὑπόκειται τὰ τῆς ᾿Ιουδαίας πεδία:
under which lie the plains of Judea.” Απᾶν “ Adida in
Galilee before the great plain,” if¢ it were not the same with
« Adida ἐν τῇ Σεφήλᾳ, in Sephel.”
Of Lydda, which we are now near when we are speaking
of Ono, let that be considered, for the sake of young students,
which the Gloss adviseth4, That Lydda is called also spd
Lodicea: and frequent mention is made of ba or “ the
martyrs in Lydda,’ which is sometimes also pronounced
ropmba sw “the martyrs in Lodicea;” as in that story¢
among other places; ‘‘ When the tyrant [or 7rajan] endea-
voured to kill Lolienus [perhaps Judanus] and Papus his
brother S972 in Lodicea, &e.” [the Gloss, Nb som sep
Lodicea, that is, Lydda] “he said to them, If you are of the
people of Ananias, Michael, and Azarias, let your God come,
and deliver you out of my hand.”
The martyrdom of these brethren is much celebrated, which
they underwent for the king’s daughter, who was found
slain; and the enemies of the Jews said that the Jews had
slain her; and these brethren, to deliver Israel, said, ‘We
slew her;’ therefore those alone the king slew. So the
Gloss.
In the tract Kelimf there is mention of a b-5D, which
2 English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 326. οι Mace. xiii. 13.
a τ Mace. xii. 30. 4 In Taanith.
b Jos. Antiq. lib. xiii, cap. 13. e Taanith, fol. 18. 2.
[xiii. 6. 5.] f Cap. 26. hal.
At Bl
276 Chorographical decad.
whether it refers to the same place, and be to be rendered
‘““ The Sandal of Lydda,” doth not appear. With it is men-
tioned also ΩΝ ‘TID “ The Emkean Sandal,” so called from
ΩΝ HD Caphar Imki: the mention of which place is in
the tract Taanith, where it is said, ‘‘ The city out of which
are five hundred footmen, as Caphar Imki,” &e. So the
Aruch and R. Solomon cite the place, and pronounce the
name of the city Ay ADI Caphar Imki; but in the Tal-
mudie text it is OY ADD Caphar Imiki. About which
we shall not contend.
CHAP. X.
Of the various inhabitants of the land.
I. It was the land of the Hebrews before it was the Canaanites’.
Il. Whence it came to pass that Canaan was only a part
of Canaan, Judges iv. 1. IL]. Who the Perizzites were.
IV. The Kenites. V. Rephaim.
Srecr. [.—IJt was the land of the Hebrews before it
was the Canaanites’.
Apranam is called 1y Hebrew, then only when the dif-
ference between him and the Elamites was to be decided by
war. And the reason of the surname is to be fetched from
the thing itself which then was transacted.
I. The) hereditary right of the Holy Land, which, by di-
vine disposal, was Sem’s land, Elam, the first-born of Sem,
did deservedly claim ; nor was there any of the sons of Sem
upon whom, in human judgment, it was more equally and
justly devolved. But the divine counsel and judgment had
designed it another way; namely, that it should come to
the family of Arphaxad, and Heber, of which family Abraham
was. Him, therefore, God strengtheneth against the army
of Elam, and declares him heir by a stupendous victory ;
which Sem himself likewise does, blessing him, although he
had overthrown in battle his sons the Elamites, born of his
first-born Elam. For that most holy man, and a very great
and noble prophet withal, acknowledged the counsel of God ;
whom he is so far from opposing for the slaughter of his sons,
& Taanith, fol. 21. 2. h Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 427.
Land of the Hebrews. Q77
that, on the contrary, he blesseth the conqueror, and yields
him the choicest fruits of his land, bread and wine, not only
for refreshment to him and his soldiers, but also, perhaps, for
a sign rather of resignation, and investing him with the he-
reditary right of it, whom God, by so signal a mark, had
shown to be the heir. Upon very good reason, therefore,
Abraham is called Hebrew, to point as it were with the
finger, that God would derive the inheritance of that land
from the family of Elam to the family of Heber, from the
first-born to him that was born after; which was also done
afterward with Reuben and Joseph.
II. Iti neither ought, nor indeed can be passed over with-
out observation, that the country of Pentapolis, and the
countries adjacent, were subjects and tributaries to Chedor-
laomer king of Elam. What! was there any part of the land
of Canaan subject to the king of the Persians, when so many
kings and countries lay between it and Persia? No idle
scruple and difficulty, I assure you ; nor, as far as 1 can see,
any otherwise to be resolved, than that Elam, the first-born
of Sem, or Melchisedek, by his birthright, was heir of that
land, which his father Sem possessed by divine right and
patent; and the sons of Elam also held after him, and his
grandsons, unto Chedorlaomer. For when it is said that
those cities and countries had served Chedorlaomer twelve
years, the times of his reign seem rather to be reckoned than
the years of the reign of the Elamites. Not that those nations
were subject to the sceptre of the Elamites twelve years only,
but that that year was only the twelfth of Chedorlaomer.
But now God translates the inheritance to the family of
Heber, called Hebrew before, but now more particularly,
and more honourably, since, of all the families of Sem, that
was now most eminent. 3D Heber denotes Hebrews, as WIS
Assur denotes Assyrians, in those words of Balaam, Numb.
xxiv. 24, WAY Ἴ WW IY) “ and shall afflict Assur, and
shall afflict Heber.”
It is a dream of somebody among the Rabbins, “ That,
when the whole land was divided among the seventy nations
at the confusion of tongues, the land of Canaan came to
i English folio edition, vol. 11. p. 327. k Shem tobh in Ps. xlvii.
278 Chorographical decad.
none: therefore the Canaanites betook themselves thither ;
and being found not only empty, but conferred by lot upon
none, they usurped it for their own.”
But what then shall we say of Melchizedek, whom now
all acknowledge for Shem? Which is more probable, that he
intruded among the Canaanites, now inhabiting the land, or
that they intruded upon him? Was not that land hereditary
to him and his, rather than usurped by wrong and intrusion ?
And did not he, by the direction of the Spirit of God, betake
himself thither, rather than either that he, wandering about
uncertainly, lighted upon that land by chance, or, acted by a
spirit of ambition or usurpation, violently possessed himself
of it? For my part, I scarcely believe, either that the
Canaanites went thither before the confusion of tongues, or
that Shem, at that time, was not there: but that he had long
and fully inhabited the land of Canaan (as it was afterward
called), before the entrance of the Canaanites into it: and
that by the privilege of a divine grant, which had destined
him and his posterity hither: and that afterward the Ca-
naanites crept in here; and were first subjects to the family
of Shem, whose first-born was Elam, but at length shook off
the yoke.
When, therefore, all those original nations, from the con-
fusion of tongues, partook of their names immediately from
the fathers of their stock; as, the Assyrians from Assur, the
Elamites from Elam, &e.; the same we must hold of the
Hebrew nation, namely, that it, from that time, was called
Hebrew from Heber: and that it was called the land of the
Hebrews, before it was called the land of the Canaanites.
For I can neither think that the stock of the Hebrews had
no name for almost three hundred years after the confusion
of tongues, until the passing of Abraham out of Chaldea
found a name for it, which some would have; nor methinks
is it agreeable that Abraham was therefore called Hebrew,
because, travelling out of Chaldea into the land of Canaan,
he passed [ray] Kuphrates ; when, upon the same reason,
both Canaan himself, and the fathers of all the western na-
tions almost, should be called Hebrews ; for they passed over
Kuphrates, travelling out of Chaldea. And when the pa-
triarch Joseph himself is called by his mistress a “ Hebrew
Canaan was a part only of Canaan. 279
servant,” Gen. xxxix. 17, and so called by the servants of
Pharaoh, chap. xli. 12; and when he saith of himself, that
he was stolen away “ out of the land of the Hebrews,” Gen.
xl. 15,—it is scarcely probable that that whole land was
known to other countries under that name, only for one
family now dwelling there; and that family a stranger, a
traveller, and living in danger from the inhabitants: but
rather that it was known by that name from ancient ages,
even before it was called “ The land of the Canaanites.”
Nor, if we should raise a contest against that opinion, which
asserts that the language™ of the Canaanites and the Hebrews
was one and the same, would that argument any whit move
us, that the towns and cities of the Canaanites bore names
which were also Hebrew; for those their Hebrew names
they might receive from Shem, Heber, and their children, be-
fore they were places of the Canaanites.
Heber lived when the tongues were confounded, and the
nations scattered; and when none denied that the sons of
Heber were Hebrews, ( yea, who would deny that that land
was the land of Heber?) by what reason should not they and
that nation take their name from him, after the same manner
as other nations took theirs from their father, at the confu-
sion of languages ?
Seor. I].°— Whence Canaan was a part only of Canaan,
Judg. iv. 2.
Canaan with his people wandering from Babylon after
the confusion of languages, passed over Euphrates through
Syria, and travelled towards Palestine, and the way led him
straight into the northern part of it first. And that which
the Jews say of Abraham travelling thither, may be said of
this person also in this regard: “God said to Abraham (say
they®), a ἼΞ To thee, to thee; the words being doubled by
reason of a double journey, one from Aram Naharaim, the
other from Aram Nachor. While Abraham lived in Aram
Naharaim, and Aram Nachor, he saw men eating, drinking,
and playing: he said therefore, Let not my portion be in that
land. But after he came ΝΣ Sw mado to the ladder of
m Leusden’s edit., νΟ]. 11. p. 428. ™ English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 328.
© Beresh. Rabb. ὃ. 39.
280 Chorographical decad.
the Tyrians, he saw men labouring in digging their grounds,
in gathering their vintage, and in husbandry: and then he
said, Let my portion be in this land.”
Note, how Abraham coming into the land of Canaan is
first brought into the north part of it; for there was ‘ Scala
Tyriorum, ‘ The ladder of the Tyrians.’ Canaan, in like
manner with his sons, travelling from Babylon went the same
way, and possesseth first the north parts, both those that
were without the land of Canaan, and those that were parts
of the land of Canaan itself.
First, let the seats of these his four sons without the land
of Canaan be observed.
I. ΤῚΝ Arvad?, the Arvadites. Which word in all ver-
sions almost is read as Aradi, the Aradites. And their seats
are easily discovered in Arad and Antarad. Jonathan for
STIS Arvadi, the Arvadites, reads ΜΟῚ [ Lutasi| the
Lutasites. Which people in what part of the world were
they? When I search in the Aruch what the word pad
Lutas means, he cites these words out of Bereshith Rabba ;
“A certain woman of the family of DY AY Tiberinus was
married IT ound to one Lutas:” and when, accordingly,
I search Bereshith Rabba, I find it there written, “She was
married STS Δ ιν to a certain robber.”
If it were written in Jonathan ssp, instead of ΟῚ
I should suspect his eye was bent upon Latavis, a place of
Pheenicia : concerning which mention is made in the Notitia
Imperii; where the Roman garrisons under the duke of Phe-
nice are, “ Otthara, Euhara, Saltacha, Latavis,” ὅσο.
IT. ΩΣ Zemari, the Zemarites. In the Targumists, both
that of Jerusalem and of Jonathan, it is S’%4M Chamatsi. So
it is in the Arabic, and in the Jerusalem GemaristsP; and
also in Bereshith Rabbaad; which either supposeth them
called "373% Zemarites, or alludes to the word ἜΣ PwIyw
“because they wrought in ΩΣ Zemer, woollen manufacture.”
3ut ‘Chamats’ and ‘ Apamia’ are convertible terms in the
Jerusalem Talmudists: YO NO NMDSN T NM “ The sea
of Apamia (say they) is the sea of Chamats’.” But now
that Apamia we show elsewhere is the same with Sepham;
» Hieros. Megill. fol. 71. 2. 4 Beresh. Rabb. §. 37.
r Mieros. Chetubh, fol. 35. 2
— i ae, «ὦ
Canaan was a part only of Canaan. 281
on the utmost coast of the land of Israel, north and north-
east.
IIT. ‘pay Arki, the Arkites. pba DN PIN’
“ Arki is Areas of Libanus.” Pliny writes thust; ‘ Paneas,
in which is Ceesarea with the spring before spoken, Abila,
Area,” ὅθ. Borchard thus, “ Jn terminos [read inter] Libani
et Antilibani offendimus castrum Arachas,’” &c. ‘ On [or
rather between] the borders of Libanus and Antilibanus, we
found the strong-hold Arachas, and built by Aracheus the
son of Canaan, when the deluge was over.”
IV. ΤΙ Hamathi, the Hamathites. In the Jerusalem
Targum it is Antioch. And Bereshith Rabba not much from
that sense, though in very different words, ΓΤ ΓΝ Ὁ
“ A Sinite (saith he) and Arethusia; ΤΩ NM Cha-
mathi is Epiphania.” Thus Pliny; “ The rest of Syria hath
these people, except what shall be said with Euphrates, the
Arethusians, the Bereans, and the Epiphanians.”
You see the Antiochian and Syrophcenician Syria pos-
sessed by the Canaanites; and yet we are not come as far as
the land of Canaan.
Let us therefore proceed onwards with Canaan and the
rest of his sons. The borders of the Canaanites, saith the
Holy Scripture, “were from Sidon to Gerar, even unto Gaza,”
Gen. x. 19. You will say they were from Antioch, and
utmost Pheenicia, and a great part of Syria. True, indeed,
those countries, as we have seen, were planted by the sons of
Canaan, but the Scripture doth not call them Canaanites ;
but where their coasts end towards the south, there the
Canaanites’ begin. The tract therefore, or region first pos-
sessed by them, is called by a peculiar name Canaan, as dis-
tinct from the rest of the land of Canaan, Judg. iv. 2; where
‘“‘ Jabin the king of Hazor” is called “ the king of Canaan,”
that is, of the northern coast of the land of Canaan. And
among the seven nations devoted by God himself to a curse
and cutting-off, the Canaanites are always numbered, when
all indeed were Canaanites: and that, as it seems, upon a
double reason; partly, because that country was distinctly
so called, as another country, and was of a peculiar differ-
5 Beresh. Rab. in the place before. t Nat. Hist. lib. v. 19.
282 Chorographical decad.
ence" from those countries inhabited by the sons of Canaan,
of whom we have spoke: partly *, because Canaan the father
probably fixed his seat there himself; and thence both that
country was called Canaan, and the whole land moreover
called “ The land of Canaan.”
Secr. I]L—The Perizzites, who.
Recxon the sons of Canaan in Gen. x; and where do you
find the Perizzites?. And yet, a matter to be wondered at,
they are always numbered in that black catalogue of the
seven nations to be cut off.
I know it is supposed by some that they are called Periz-
zites, as much as to say villagers, because they dwelt in vi/-
lages, and small towns unfortified: which, indeed, varies not
much from the derivation of the word: but certainly it is
needless, when all the Canaanitish families are reckoned up,
which possessed the whole land, to add the villagers over
and above, who were sufficiently included in the aforesaid
reckoning.
But that which we know was done by the Israelites, we
justly suppose was done by the Canaanites also; namely, that
some families of the Canaanite stock were denominated, not
from the very immediate son of Canaan, from whom they
derived their original, but from some famous and memorable
man of that stock. Nor do we say this upon conjecture
alone, but by very many examples among the Israelites; and,
indeed, among other nations, and this in that very nation of
which we are speaking. In Gen. xxxvi, Zibeon was the son
of Seir, ver. 20; and the whole nation and land was called,
«“ The nation and land of the sons of Seir.” But now that
that Seir was of the Canaanite pedigree, appears sufficiently
hence, that his son Zibeon was called a Hivite, ver.2. After
the same manner therefore as the Seirites, who were of
Canaanite blood, were so named, I make no doubt the Periz-
zites were named from one Perez, a man of great name in
some Canaanite stock.
u Leusden’s edit., vol. ii. p. 429. * English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 329.
The Kenites. 283
Secr. 1V.—The Kenittes.
Or the same rank were the Kenites, the Kenizzites, Cad-
monites: by original indeed Canaanites, but so named from
some Cain, and Kenaz, and Cadmon, men of famous renown
in those families. If so be the Cadmonites were not so
called from their antiquity, or rather from their habitation
eastward : which is the derivation of Saracens ; from Saracon,
ΕΞ: the east.
The masters of the traditions do not agree among them-
selves what to resolve concerning these nations. In the Je-
rusalem Talmudists you have these passages: ‘‘ Youry fathers
possessed seven nations, but you shall possess the land of
ten nations. The three last are these, the Kenites, the Ke-
nizzites, the Cadmonites. R. Judah saith, These are the Sal-
means, the Sabeans. and the Nabatheans. R. Simeon saith,
Asia, FPOMON and Damascus. R. Lazar Ben Jacob saith,
Asia and Carthagena, and Turkey. Rabbi saith, Edom and
Moab, and the first-fruits of the children of Ammon.”
In the Babylonian Talmudists these passages: “ Samuel 2
saith, All that land which God shewed to Moses, is bound
to tithes. To exclude what? To exclude the Kenites, the
Kenizzites, the Cadmonites. A tradition. R. Meir saith,
These are the Naphtuchites, the Arabians, and the Salmeans.
R. Judah saith, Mount Seir, Ammon, and Moab. R. Simeon
saith, ΡΟ ΤῚΝ Asia and Spain.”
‘These* nations were not delivered to Israel in this age; but
they shall be delivered in the days of the Messias.”
“In the days of the Messias they shall add three other
cities of refuge. But whence? From the cities of the Kenites,
the Kenizzites, and the Cadmonites. Concerning whom God
gave a promise to our father Abraham; but they are not as
yet subdued.”
We may borrow light concerning these nations from those
words of Moses, Gen. x. 18, “‘ Afterward the families of the
Canaanites were dispersed.” First they replenished Pheenicia,
and the northern country of the land of Canaan; by little and
y Hieros. Kiddush. fol. 61. 4. a Beresh. Rab. fol. 28. 2.
z Bab. Bathra, fol. 56. 1. υ Maimon. in m¥)5 cap. 8.
284 Chorographical decad.
little, the whole land of Canaan within Jordan. Then they
spread themselves into the land which afterwards belonged
to the Edomites, and there they were called Horites from
mount Hor; and the children of Seir, from Seir the father of
those families, he himself being a Canaanite. On the east,
they spread themselves into those countries which afterward
belonged to the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Midianites ;
and they were called Kenites, Kenizzites, Cadmonites, from
one Cain, one Kenaz, and perhaps one Cadmon, the fathers
of those families; if so be the Cadmonites were not so called
from the aforesaid causes.
Thee mention of a certain Cain calls to my mind the town
or city Cain, which you see in the maps placed not far from
Carmel : in that of Doet, adorned (shall I say ?) or disfigured
with a Dutch picture of one man shooting another, with this
inscription, “Cain wert geschoten van Lamech ;” “ Cain was
shot by Lamech,” Gen. iv. A famous monument forsooth!
That place, indeed, is obscure, Gen. iv: and made more ob-
scure by the various opinions of interpreters: and you, Doet,
have chosen the worst of all. If the words of Lamech may be
cleared from the text, (and if you clear it not from the con-
text, whence will you clear it!) they carry this plain and
smooth sense with them: He had brought in bigamy: that
also had laid waste the whole world, Gen. vi. For so wretched
a wickedness, and which, by his example, was the destruction
of infinite numbers of men, divine justice and vengeance strikes
and wounds him with the horror and sting of conscience ; so
that, groaning and howling before his two bigamous wives,
Adah and Zillah, he complains and confesseth that he is a
much more bloody murderer than Cain, for hé had only slain
Abel; but he, an infinite? number of young and old by his
wicked example.
Secr. V.— ONE Rephain.
Tue Samaritan interpreter always renders these, Aseans ;
—in Gen. xv. 20, written with [71] Cheth, but in Deut. ii. 20,
with [55] Aleph. If they were called Aseans, as they were by
him, so by all other speaking Syriac and Chaldee; I know
© English folio edition, vol. ii. p.330. «ἃ Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 430.
Rephaim. 285
not whence the word Asia may more fitly be derived, than
from the memory of this gigantic race, living almost in the
middle of Asia, and monstrous and astonishing above all other
Asiatics. The LXX eall them Tirdvas, Titans, 2 Sam. v. 18, 22.
The word used by the Samaritan denotes Physicians*, and
so it is rendered by me in the Polyglott Bible, lately pub-
lished at London, Deut. ii, partly, that it might be rendered
word for word, but especially, that it might be observed by
what sound, and in what kind of pronunciation he read the
word OND Rephaim. So the LXX render it ᾿Ἰατροὶ,
Physicians, Isa. xxvi. 14, το.
€ [From x53, sanavit. In the same sense ΝῸΝ is used in Chaldee
and Syriac. |
Μ δ ee ee j
; ; be at A A Ὺ Hire,
= od ‘ ) ᾿ pat ¥ 4 ah ᾿ ἔ 7
7 ss oe
py taues Σ ie oy irae ἢ
CONTENTS
OF THE
CHOROGRAPHICAL DECAD+.
CHAP Er
I. Ipumea. II. A few things of Pelusium. III. Casiotis :
mp2 Casjah: Exod. xvii. 16. IV. Rhinocorura. The
Arabic interpreter noted. V. The country of the Avites,
a part of New Idumea. VI. The whole land of Simeon,
within Idumea. VII. The whole southern country of Judea,
within Idumea. VIII. Concerning Healthful Palestine.
So 1 idumenr? Marke itl S./ ti2snoeceect den dees wa-terreae Page 202
$92.) -Adtewsthings of Pelusiany: sc: .Josc c= s0 seeed= nan eeaiee 203
δ 5. EE CHO TIS Eon aici bee shore SOBEED Πρ πτ'|Ὧ Πρ. nce 2.) 5
δ. 4. Rhinocorura. The Arabic interpreter noted......... 205
δ. 5. The country of the Avites : a part of New Idumea. 205
§. 6. The whole portion of Simeon within Idumea......... 206
§. 7. The whole southern country of Judea, within Idu-
LCE ge ole ee eee Pac ΠῚ Πρ τ tele 207
§. 8. Of the third Palestine, or Palestine called ‘ the
EV Cathie ΤΥ teen eee clas ee eed Sole eee 207
CHAP: Ἢ:
1. "Epnuos. The wilderness, of different signification. II.
mm 1290 Lhe wilderness of Judah. III. A scheme of
Asphaltites, and the wilderness of Judah, or of adjacent
Idumea. IV. Ἔρημος Ἰουδαίας, the wilderness of Judea,
where John the Baptist was. V. Μέλι ἄγριον, wild honey,
Mark i. 6. VI. Tepiywpos τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, The region about
Jordan, Matt. 111. 5.
δ τ ΠΠ6᾽ wilderness "Mark ΤΡ ΓΖ co... .0ccseremoaseenaens: 211]
§. 2. mm 5250 The wilderness of Judah .................. 212
8 This table of Contents is not in the English folio edition.
288 CONTENTS OF THE
§. 3. A scheme of Asphaltites, and of the wilderness of
Judah or Idumea adjacent) .....0.5.-.cer0--ness eras 213
δ. 4. The wilderness of Judea, where John Baptist was... 215
δ: σ᾽ Μέλο ἄγριον, wild Roney «a. vncccs~s<-55 νος τ το τοῦ 217
δ. 6. Περίχωρος τοῦ Ἰορδάνου: The region round about
Jordan 3 Matt. 1: τον τα ΡΝ 218
CHAP. IIT.
I. Various Corbans. 11. ΠῚ ΒΗ Corban chests. III. The
Corban awd chamber. IV. Where the Γαζοφυλάκιον,
the treasury, was. V. 7) τὰ Gad Javan in the Temple.
VI. Jerusalem, in Herodotus, is Cadytis. VII. The streets
of Jerusalem. VIII. The street leading from the Temple
towards the mount of Olivet.
. Tagopudaxov' The treasury ; Mark xii. 41 ............ 221
» Mp we Phe Corban chestai «τ΄... ὐπὸ 222
> The: Corban maid chamber. isccinsd. <voss send 223
. Where the Ταζοφυλάκιον, treasury, WaS... 20... eee eee νον 225
να ἢ 12 Gad Javan im the Temple.............:-.00.20 00 227
. Jerusalem, in Herodotus, is Cadytis.............62000 229
. The streets of Jerusalem. «2..in5. seo ae! edcbeeeeeeee 230
. 8. The street leading from the Temple towards Olivet. 231
TAA FW Dd HF
CHARS τν.
Ἢ κώμη ἡ κατέναντι The village over-against ; Mark xi. 2.
I. A sabbath-day’s journey. II. Shops in mount Olivet.
TIT. opm nea prin Lhe lavatory of Bethany, IV. Migdal
Eder near Jerusalem. V. The Seventy interpreters noted.
VI. The pomp of those that offered the first-fruits.
§. 2. A sabbath-day’s journey... ... ...:+-csasasaegeeeee eee 231
§. 2: Shops in mount Olivet; ..- 5:2 .ceccs-e-neec eee eee 233
δι 3. 2» ma prin The lavatory of Bethany ............. 234
§. 4. Migdal Tider. a Sa 00. «sane τοῦ πὰ oc ΡΠ 235
ὃ. 5. The Seventy Interpreters noted .....«.. «ον νον νον νυ νον ον 230
§. 6. The pomp of those that offered the first-fruits ....... 237
CHAP. V.
Dalmanutha ; Mark viii. το. I. A scheme of the sea of Gen-
nesaret, and the places adjacent. 11. ἘΠῚ ΟῚ ma The
house of widowhood. Zalmon. Thence Dalmanutha......... 238
δι 1. A scheme of the sea of Gennesaret, and the places
Βα]δοθη on. sur see eae Py ἘΝ
δ. 2. ἘΠῊΝ mo. Zalmon. Thence Dalmanutha...... 239
CHOROGRAPHICAL DECAD. 289
CHAP. Viz
“Opia Τύρου καὶ Σιδῶνος" The coasts of Tyre and Sidon ; Mark
vii. 24. I. The maps too officious. II. 5:25 “Opiv A
coast. III. The Greek Interpreters noted. IV. Midland
Pheenicia. V. Of the Sabbatic river.
So tae the ἸΩΆΡΗ toe OfClousy 2 .30..05. conten en et ouncwsecgens 244
Shia Po aS Onion Κορ ne. set somchcaancn tice ΡΟ 245
§. 3. The Greek Interpreters noted ..................0..0+00 247
δ 45eMidinrd) Phoenicia. 422. 267255. ππΠέΠρΠᾷᾳὲᾷᾶ4Ψἕ4ἝἕιῤΡέυιο͵οσ τ sodas: 248
Se OT thes ΘΑ ΒΑΙΟΥΙνΟΣ τη wns coe ons woe sateen ee OO
CHAP VIL
The region of Decapolis, what ; Mark vii. 30. I. Not well placed
by some. II. Scythopolis, heretofore jew m1 Beth-shean,
one of those Decapolitan cities. III. Also Gadara and
Hippo. IV. And Pella. V. Caphar Tsemach. Beth Gubrin.
Caphar Carnaim. VI. Cesarea Philippi. VII. The city
124» Orbo.
§. 1. The region of Decapolis not well placed by some ... 251
§. 2. Seythopolis, heretofore ;yxw ma Beth-shean, one of
LOr 009 Ὁ» Ὁ» OO
- 3-
ae
“ΟΣ
: Ὁ:
- 1:
the: Decapolitan ΟΠΙΘΕ τ «adie oe wove see nce 254
Gadara and Hippo, cities of Decapolis ................ 255
Pella ay eihy, OF Deca pols! 202i cusses) sed cette etme ee 456
Caphar Tsemach. Beth Gubrin. Caphar Carnaim... 257
Crssawedy Puig pines. τέ eae keene cians aoe 259
ΠΟ Τρ ἐγ 3) πο ne en as tec ots fics se eae Sakae ees Oe
@EPATES VEE
Some measurings. I. The measures of the Jews. II. Their
measuring of the land by diets. III. And the measuring of
the length of the land within Jordan. IV. Ptolemy consulted
and amended. V. Pliny to be corrected. VI. The length
of the land out of Antoninus. VII. The breadth of the
ways.
VIII. The distance of sepulchres from cities.
1. The measures of the Jews. ἜΡΩΣ τον oo
2. The Jews’ measuring out dhe Bed is dices vaste Oe
3. The Talmudists’ measuring the breadth of the land
ΜΙ OTOAM τὸς onc ate at toe eee ree eres 264
4. Ptolemy consulted and amended ......................- 205
Be ne liye tO. Wet COLEE CEE: sir, cnc) test ca eee ae ese eee 266
6. The length of the land out of Antoninus ....... ..... 265
is ERG DRCACU: Of GE WAYS. 22520142 ease es: ae 269
8. The distance of sepulchres from cities ................ 270
LIGHTFOOT, VOL, 1. U
290 CONTENTS OF THE CHOROGRAPHICAL DECAD.
CHAP. IX.
Some places scatteringly noted. I. The Roman garrisons.
11. Zin py. Cadesh topo. 111. 1318 Ono.
ἡ 2. “Dhe Roman’ parnisons.c.'.:.2+.esns sc perenne eee
ὃ: 2. Zins. Cadesh Gap) .2.2...02. conan sen anemones
Soe TSUN συ. kotor Salessie bata c niet «aki tee eee ce aa eet
CHAP. X.
Of the various inhabitants of the land. I. It was the land of
the Hebrews before it was the Canaanites’. II. Whence
it came to pass, that Canaan was only a part of Canaan,
Judges iv. 2. 111. Who the Perizzites were. 1V. The Kenites.
V. Rephaim.
§. 1. It was the land of the Hebrews before it was the
Ganidamitest ss cn ees taht veka o cee ucts ae asec τ τ ..».-
§. 2. Whence Canaan was a ‘part only of Canaan, Judges
LV (25 Parca eet crete lan tian ee teks nde eee
§. 3. The Perizzites, Who... 0. .2.s--02-0o. ΗΠ
δ. ἢ Wie Wenttes) a... coc cedest ce aeeseae ens eee ce ee ee
SG. Ξε. Lephann .-.5- 20.00 coer 0s ere
A FEW
CHOROGRAPHICAL NOTES
UPON THE PLACES
MENTIONED IN ST. LUKE.
A FEW
CHOROGRAPHICAL NOTES,
&e. &e.
CHAP. I.a
Of the places mentioned in Luke iii.
I. Some historical passages concerning the territories of Herod,
and the tetrarchies of his sons. 11. Whether Perea was not
also called Galilee. Ill. Some things in general concerning
the country beyond Jordan. IV. Trachonitis. V. Auranitis.
VI. σα. VII. Abilene. VIII. 2 Sam. xx. 18 discussed.
Sect. I.—Some historical passages concerning the
territories of Herod, &c.
BEFORE we make any particular inquiries into the coun-
tries mentioned Luke iii. 1, it will not be amiss to dip into
history a little more generally.
“ Augustus Czesar> received Herod’s sons, Alexander and
Aristobulus, upon their arrival at Rome, with all the kind-
ness imaginable, καὶ δίδωσιν ᾿Ηρώδῃ τὴν βασιλείαν ὅτῳ Bov-
λεται βεβαιοῦν τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγονότων : granting a power to
Herod to establish the kingdom in which of his sons he pleased :
καὶ χώραν ἔτι τόν τε Τράχωνα, καὶ Βαταναίαν, καὶ ᾿Αβρανῖτινο:
yea, and moreover, gave him the region of Trachonitis, Batanea,
and Abranitis.” We find Perea (peculiarly so called) not
mentioned in this places when yet it was most assuredly
under Herod’s jurisdiction: how else could he have built He-
rodium, which was in the extreme confines of Perea south-
ward, where he himself was buried ?
ἃ English folio edition, vol. i. Ὁ Joseph. Antiq. lib. xv. cap. 13.
p. 361.—Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. [Hudson, p. 696. 1.6. [xv. το, 1.]
Po 47%. © Avpavirw’ Hudson.
294 Chorographical Notes.
Neither, indeed, doth St. Luke say any thing of Perea,
even then when he mentions the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas,
under whose jurisdiction, Josephus tells us, were both Perea
and Galilee. ᾿Εγένετο δὲ ὑπὸ τούτῳ [᾿Αντίπᾳ] 7 τε Περαία καὶ
Γαλιλαία. “Ῥοιθὰ ἃ and Galilee were both under Antipas.”
Why Josephus should not mention Perea, when he is
speaking of the father’s kingdom, or why St. Luke should
omit it, when he instances the tetrarchy of the son, that being
so unquestionably within his jurisdiction, I confess is some-
thing strange to me; nor could I pass it without some
remark.
The same Josephus tells us this of the tetrarehy of Philip :
Βαταναία te καὶ Τράχων, &e. “ Batanea’, also, and Tracho-
nitis, Auranitis, and some parts of Zeno’s house, about Jam-
nia, yielding the profits of one hundred talents, were under
Philip’s government.” And again, Tore δὴ καὶ Φίλιππος τε-
λευτῷ τὸν βίον, εἰκοστῷ μὲν ἐνιαυτῷ τῆς Τιβερίου ἀρχῆς. “ Thenf
died Philip, in the twentieth year of the reign of Tiberius,
when he himself had governed for seven-and-thirty years
over Trachonitis, Gaulonitis, and the country of the Bata-
neans.” Here we see Auranitis is not mentioned, but Gau-
lonitis is; and in St. Luke, neither Batanea, nor Gaulonitis,
nor Auranitis; but, instead of them, Iturea. There is a
chronological difficultys in these words of Josephus, which
is not easily solved ; but this is not the business of this
treatise.
It is hard to say whether this Ζήνωνος otxos, house of
Zenon, have any relation with Zenodorus, the robber. Jose-
phus, in the place above quoted ὃ, mentions him, saying, that
Augustus was the more willing to put Batanea, Trachonitis,
and Auranitis, under the government of Herod the Great,
that he might the more effectually suppress the thefts and
rapines committed by one Zenodorus and the Trachonites.
Strabo ' also speaks of this Zenodorus, telling us, that “ there
were few robberies committed now ; καταλυθέντων τῶν περὶ
Ζηνόδωρον τῶν λῃστῶν, the robbers of Zenodorus’s party being
cut off.
4 De Bell. lib. ii. cap. 9. [1]. 6. 3.] & English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 362.
© Ibid. h [Antiq. xv. Io. 1. ]
f Antiq. 1. xviii. c. 6. [xviii. 4. 6.] i Strabo, lib. xvi. [p. 756.]
Perea. 295
But if the name should be writ in the mother tongue, M1
PIE Beth Zenun, it might signify a place or region of cold ;
and so denote some country adjacent to the snows of Leba-
non; or some part of ΔΓ WY the mountain of snow [Her-
mon]; I rather believe.
Srer. I].— Whether Perea may not also be called Galilee.
I. Aurnoven the whole Transjordanine country might
justly enough be called Περαία, Perea, for this very reason,
because it was πέραν τοῦ ᾿Ιορδάνου, on the other side Jor-
dan; yet, generally speaking, the country is distinguished,
and that is peculiarly called Perea, which was the kingdom
of Sehon, the dwelling afterward i of the Reubenites, and
part of the tribe of Gad.
Hence that of Ptolemy, that ἀπ᾽ ἀνατολῶν τοῦ ποταμοῦ ᾽]ορ-
δάνου, “ from the east of the river Jordan,” there are only
these cities reckoned up by him:
Κόσμος, Cosmos.
Λιβίας, Livias.
Καλλιρροῆ, Callirrhoe. Of old, Lasha.
Tagwpos, Gazorus.
᾿Επίκαιρος, Kpicerus.
Other places that were beyond Jordan he mentions under
other districts ; as, some under Coelosyria, others under
Batanea.
That which we are now inquiring about, is, whether the
Transjordanine country was ever called Galilee. The rise
of this question is, because our Evangelist mentions the whole
tetrarchy of Herod, under the name of Galilee, when as Perea
was a great part of it. 1 incline much to the affirmative, for
these reasons: and first, I suppose that the upper part of
the country ‘ beyond Jordan’ might be called ‘ Galilee.’
1. From Matt. iv. 15, ὁδὸν θαλάσσης πέραν τοῦ ᾿Ιορδάνου,
Γαλιλαία τῶν ἐθνῶν, “ by the way of the sea beyond Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles.” Are not those places beyond the
sea of Gennesaret, called, in this place, ‘ Galilee of the Gen-
tiles,’ in distinction to Galilee properly so called, on this side
Jordan ¢
2. Judas, who moved the sedition against the Roman tax,
1 Leusden’s edition, vel. i. p. 471.
200 Chorographical Notes.
is, by Gamaliel, called ‘ Judas of Galilee, Acts v. 37,—who
yet, by Josephus, is called Γαυλανίτης ἀνὴρ, ἐκ πόλεως ὄνομα
Γαμάλα, “ A* Gaulonite of the city of Gamala.” Now it is
well enough known that Gaulona and Gamala were beyond
Jordan.
II. I suppose Perea, properly so called, to have gone also
under the name of Galilee, for these reasons:
1. The whole land of Canaan, both that beyond and that
on this side Jordan, was under the jurisdiction of Herod the
Great. So that divide this whole country into four tetrar-
chies, the first Judea; the second Samaria; both which were
under the government of Pilate; the third, Iturea and Tra-
chonitis, under Philip; the fourth will be Galilee on this
side, and Perea beyond Jordan. Whereas, therefore, St. Luke,
in the division of the tetrarchies, names only Galilee, as that
which belonged to Herod, it is manifest he includes Perea
under that of Galilee, and speaks of it as a known and com-
monly-received thing.
2. In Luke xvii. 11, it is said of Jesus, that ““ 885 he went
to Jerusalem, he passed through the midst of Samaria and
Galilee.’ One would have thought it had been proper to
have said, “ through the midst of Galilee and Samaria.”
For when he went from Jerusalem to his own country, he
then passed through Samaria, and so into Galilee ; but going
from home to Jerusalem, he in his passage went through Ga-
lilee, and then through Samaria: but now it is very certain,
that in that journey he did pass through Perea, having first
gone through the Samaritan country. Whence it is very
probable that Perea is called, by our evangelist in this place,
Galilee ; in the very same manner as he had also included it
in the mention of Galilee, Luke iii. 1.
3. In that tragical feast, wherein the last mess was the
head of John Baptist, those who! then were treated by He-
rod are called the “ great estates of Galilee,’ Mark vi. 21.
Now, that supper was kept in the palace Herodium, which
was in the very extreme parts of Perea towards the south ;
and, therefore, surely those “ great estates of Galilee,” that
were with him, must be no other than the great estates of
Perea.
k Antiq. lib. xvii. cap. 1. [xviii. 1.1.7 |! English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 363.
The country beyond Jordan. 297
4. There is mention of pW MIS} Geliloth of Jordan,
Joshua xxii. 11, when the passage was concerning Perea:
whence that country might well take its name of Galilee.
Seer. I11—Some things in general concerning the country
beyond Jordan.
As to the tetrarchies of Herod and Philip, this, I suppose,
we may determine without prejudice or question, that nothing
was within their jurisdiction but what was within the con-
fines of the land of Israel, properly so called. As to what
may be objected concerning Iturea, we shall consider in its
own place. Whilst we are, therefore, looking into these coun-
tries, our main business will be with what was beyond Jordan ;
for that on this side the river was only Galilee, about which
we shall not much trouble ourselves, because there is no diffi-
culty concerning it.
The Transjordanine country, if I mistake not, from greatest
antiquity, is divided in that story, Gen. xiv. 5: ‘ Chedor-
laomer, and the kings that were with him, smote the Re-
phaims in Ashtaroth-karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham,
and the Emims in Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites in
mount Seir.”
These two things we may apprehend from this passage :
1. That the country of Bashan was inhabited by the Re-
phaims; Perea (another part of the land beyond Jordan), by
the Zuzims, Moab by the Emims. 2. That Ashtaroth-kar-
naim, Ham, and Shaveh-kiriathaim are not every one the
names of whole countries, but particular places in those coun-
‘tries; perhaps where the several fights were, or where the
people of that country had been subdued.
As to Ashtaroth-karnaim, there is little doubt but that
was in the kingdom of Bashan; the larger region being called
Ashtaroth, Karnaim is added in a distinguishing limited sense:
Deut. i. 4, “Og, the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Ashtaroth
in Edrei.”
Of the place itself, the Jewish doctors thus™: FTO ‘Say
mo bya oon awry “At twenty cubits, a man sits in the
shadow of his tent” (viz. in the feast of Tabernacles) ; ‘“ he
m Succah, fol. 2. 1.
298 Chorographical Notes.
does not sit in the shadow of his tabernacle beyond twenty
cubits, but in the shadow of its sides” [that is, if the roof
or cover of his tabernacle be above twenty eubits high].
“ Abai saith unto him, If, therefore, any one® shall pitch a
tabernacle in Ashtaroth-karnaim, is not the tabernacle so
also?” Gloss: ‘“ Ashtaroth-karnaim were two great moun-
tains, with a valley between; and, by reason of the height
and shadow of those mountains, the sun never shone upon
the valley.”
Why the Samaritan copy should use here WIV) ΓΝ
Aphinith Karnaiah, instead of ‘ Ashtaroth-karnaim,’ espe-
cially when it retains the word Ashtaroth elsewhere, is not
easy to say, unless it should have some relation to PDY
boughs ; as a place thick and shady with boughs. But such
is the confusion of the guttural letters in the Samaritan lan-
guage, that we can determine nothing positively.
That the Zuzims inhabited Perea, as it is distinguished
from the country of Bashan, may be evident from the pro-
gress of the conqueror; for whereas it is plain that the Re-
phaims dwelt in Bashan, and the Emims in the country of
Moab, Deut. 11. 10, 11, it is manifest that the Zuzims, who
were conquered after the Rephaims, and before the Emims,
lay in a country between both, and that was Perea.
And hence are those to be corrected that would correct
the ‘reading here [Gen. xiv. 5.], and instead of DTA OWI
“the Zuzims in Ham,” would render it, “the Zuzims with
them [ort |.” So the Greek, Vulgar, &e: as if the Zuzims
were amongst the Rephaims. when they were distinguished
both in nation and dwelling. The Samaritan, we may be sure,
took DM for no other than a place, when it renders TW*72
tn Lishah.
When the Israelites went out of Egypt into that land, the
whole Transjordanine region was divided into these two
seigniories,—the kingdom of Sehon, and the kingdom of Og.
That of Sehon was Perea, strictly so called now; that of
Og, was all the rest under the name of Bashan. But after
the return of Israel from Babylon, Bashan was so subdivided,
that Batanea, or Bashan, was only a part of it, the rest going
under the name of Trachonitis, Auranitis, and, if you will,
n Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 473.
Trachonitis. 299
Gaulonitis too; for we meet with that distinction also in
Josephus’. To give, therefore, all these countries at this
time their proper bounds and limits, if it does not exceed all
human skill and wit, 1 am sure it doth mine.
Sop that all we can do in this matter, is only to propound
a few things of these places thus divided, as far as conjec-
ture may carry us, which we submit fairly to the fair and
candid judgment of the reader. Let us, therefore, begin with
Trachonitis.
Secr. 1LV.—Trachonitis.
Arcos, mentioned Deut. iii. 14, is, by the Targumists,
called ΝΣ and SNIW Trachona. And so Jonath.
1 Kings iv.13: the Samaritan hath it, TNA Rigobaah,
which seems akin to 199 Regab, amongst the Talmudists.
“Tekoah@ hath the preeminence for oil: Abba Saul saith,
JWT WyA AN m5 mow The neat to that is Regab beyond
Jordan.”
Gul. Tyrius would derive the name from dragons [δράκων].
For so he: “It* [Trachonitis] seems to have taken its name
from dragons. Those hidden passages and windings under-
ground, with which this country abounds, are called dragons.
Indeed, almost all the people of this country have their dwell-
ings in dens and caves ; and in these kind of dragons.”
Other things might be offered as to the signification of
the word: but we are looking after the situation of the
place, not the etymology of the name. And the first thing
to be inquired into, as to its situation, is, whether it extended
in longitude from the south to the north, or from the west
to the east. The reason of our inquiry is, partly upon the
account of Auranitis, which we are to speak of presently,
and partly those words in Josephus, ὡρίζετο δὲ αὐτὴ [Baravaia]
τῇ Τραχωνίτιδι. “ Bataneas was bounded with Trachonitis.”
How so? Hither that Batanea lay between Perea and Tra-
chonitis, extending itself from the west towards the east, or
between Trachonitis and Galilee, strictly so called, extend-
ing itself in length from the south towards the north: which
© [de Bell. iii. 3.5.] 4 Menacoth, fol. 85. 2.
P English folio edition, vol. ii. p. t De Bell. Sacr. lib. xvi. cap. 9.
364. 5. Antiq.lib. xvii. cap. 2. [xvii.2.1.]
300 Chorographical Notes.
last I presume most probable; and so we place Trachonitis
in the extreme parts of the Transjordanine country towards
the east. And both which, upon these reasons taken to-
gether:
1. The Gemarists, describing the circumference of the land
from the north, do mention a) soya πον shun
minads onnnt SnD P IOP “ Tarnegola [or Gabara]
the upper, which is above Cesarea [ Philippi], and Trachona,
which extends to Bozraht:” where the extension of Trachona
must not be understood of its reaching to some Bozrah in
those northern borders; but to some Bozrah or Bosorrah in
the confines of Perea": and so it supposes the country ex-
tending itself from the north towards the south.
2. Baravaias* χώρας, “ Of the province of Batanea; east
of which is Saceea, and here, under the hill Alsadamus, are
the Trachonite Arabians.” Behold here the Trachonites living
east of Batanea.
3. Ἥ τεῦ Γαμαλιτικὴ καὶ Pavdaviris, Batavaia te καὶ Tpaxo-
viris’ “The country of Gamala, and Gaulanitis, and Batanea,
and Trachonitis.” But were not Gamalitica itself and Gaulo-
nitis within Batanea? Right: but by this distinction he divides
between that Batanea that was nearer Galilee, and that that
was farther off. That country that lay nearest, from those
noted towns of Gaulan and Gamala, he calls Gaulonitis and
Gamalitica; and that which was farther off, he calls by its
own name of Batanea; and what lies still beyond that, Tra-
chonitis.
There was a time when all that whole country, which now
is distinguished into these severals, had one general name of
Bashan ; which word, how it came to change into Bathan, or
Batanea,—as also, with the Targumists and Samaritans, into
Bathnin and Mathnin,—any one, indifferently skilled in the
Syrian tongue, will easily discern.
Seer. V.—Auranitis.
Tuar Auranitis took its denomination from Hauran, hardly
τ Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 36. 3. x Ptol. cap. 15, towards the end.
u Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 12. [xii. 8. Υ Joseph. de Beil. lib. iii. cap. 4.
3-] [Hudson, p. 1121.] [iii. 3. 5.]
Auranitis. 301
any one will question, especially that observes τς by WN
PW Ezek. xlvii. 16, to be rendered by the Greek interpreters,
Αἵ εἰσιν ἐπάνω τῶν ὁρίων Arpavitidos, “ which are upon the
borders of Auranitis.”
Hauran is reckoned up amongst those hills, at the top of
which, by lifting up some flaming torches, they were wont to
give notice of the new year.
“ Where? did they hold up those lights? Mmwan AT)
naunp> From mount Olivet to Sartaba. spas NAYIDYD)
And from Sartaba to Gryphena. mind SMH WIND And from
Gryphena to Hauran. pnb. mead PNM) And from Hauran
to Beth Balttn. And from Beth Baltin, he that held up the
light there, did not depart, but waved it hither and thither,
up and down, till he saw the lights kindled throughout the
whole captivity.”
The® Gemarist queries, “ What is Beth-Baltin? Rabh
saith, It is Biram. What is the captivity? Rabh Joseph
saith, It is Pombeditha.” Gloss: ‘“ The sense of it is this:
That Biram is in the land of Israel.” How! is Biram the
same with Beth Baltin, and yet is Biram within the land of
Israel 2 when, in the Jerusalem Gemara, ‘“‘ Rabh Honna
saith, When we came hither, we went up to the top of Beth
Baltin, and discerned the palm trees in Babylon.” If this
be true, the geographers are to consider whether there can
be any prospect of Babylon from the land of Israel. In
their sense it may be true enough, who commonly by the
name of Babylon understand all those countries into which
the Babylonish captivity were carried ; not only Chaldea,
but Mesopotamia also, and Assyria. So that bounding the
land of Israel with the river Euphrates (which, indeed, the
Holy Scriptures themselves do), they make it contiguous with
Mesopotamia, the river only between; and they place Beth
Baltin not far from the bank on this side the river.
The Gemarists acknowledge that lights were lifted up upon
some hills between those which they had mentioned ; but
these were the most known and celebrated, and therefore they
named them only. Now it is probable enough that mount
Hauran gave the denomination to the whole country Auran-
Z Rosh Hashanah, cap. 11. hal. 2.
a English folio edition, vol. 11. p. 365.
302 Chorographical Notes.
itis, which we are now upon. Perhaps there might be some
part of Antilibanus called Hauran, either from the Syriac
word ΛΓ Havar, which signifies white; or from the Hebrew
word VW Hor, a cave. It may well enough agree either way,
the hill being zhite with snow, and hollow with the subter-
ranean passages that were there.
However, it is plain enough, from the place in Ezekiel
before quoted, that Hauran was situated in the very extreme
parts of the land towards the north, and from thence the
country, as it had its situation there, so had its name Aura-
nitis. Gul. Tyrius> (by what authority I cannot tell) placeth
it near the sea of Gennesaret: ‘“ Subito enim transcursa
regione Auranitide, que secus mare Tiberiadis est,’? &e.
“The country of Auranitis being suddenly run through,
which is by the sea of Tiberias,” ὅσο.
And that the river Orontes [springing between Libanus
and Antilibanus near Heliopolis, as Pliny* hath it] took its
name from Hauran, the word itself seems to assure us. Al-
though some, quoted by Kustathius in Dionys. Περιηγ.. do
apprehend it to be a Latin name. άλλοι δὲ φάσιν (saith he)
ὅτι Καῖσαρ Τιβέριος ἐκ Δράκοντος αὐτὸν ᾿Ορόντην μετωνόμασεν,
ὃ σημαίνει ᾿ΔΑνατολικόν: As if “ Orontes’ were the same with
‘ Orientalis,’ ‘ the Eastern.” But what that ἐκ Δράκοντος
should mean is a little difficult. Orontes was of old called
Typhon, as Strabo ἃ tells us.
Secr. VI.—IJturea.
Tue reader must excuse me if I make a narrower search
into the situation of Iturea, although Barradius may confi-
dently enough have told him (upon his own trust merely, as
far as I can learn), that ‘“‘the country is in the tribe of Neph-
thali, at the foot of mount Libanus.” Perhaps he hath fol-
lowed Borchard, who himself writes only upon the credit of
Jacobus de Vitriaco: “ Scias regionem Decapolin quam νὰ-
rie in Scripturis denominari,” ὅσο. ‘“ You must know, the
region of Decapolis hath several names in Scripture. Some-
times it is called Iturea; sometimes, Trachonitis ; sometimes,
the plain of Libanus ; sometimes, the land of Moab; in one
Ὁ Lib, xxii. 26. ¢ Lib. v. cap. 22. d Lib. xvi. [6..2.]
Tturea. 3038
place, Gabul; in another place, Galilee of the Gentiles, and
the Upper Galilee; but everywhere it is all one and the same
country.” Thus he confusedly enough.
Pliny 6 places some nation or other, called by the name of
the Itureans, in Cyrrhestica of Syria: ‘ Et inde Cyrrhestica,”
ὅσο. “Next that is Cyrrhestica, the Irneates, the Gindareni,
the Gabeni, two tetrarchies, which are called Granii Coma-
tite, the Emisenes, the Hylatz, a nation of the Itureans,
and those of them also called the Betarreni, the Mariami-
tani,” &e.
‘¢ After Macra is Marsyas, wherein are some hilly places,
on one of which stands Chalcis, a garrison of Marsyas.
The beginning of it is Laodicea, about Libanus. Ta μὲν οὖν
ὀρεινὰ ἔχουσι πάντα ᾿Ιτουραῖοί τε Kal” ApaBes, κακοῦργοι πάντες"
The Itureans and Arabs hold all the mountainous places, a
very mischievous sort of people, all of them.”
Στρατεῦσαιβ δ᾽ αὐτὸν [Δαβὶδ] καὶ ἐπὶ ᾿Ιδουμαίους, καὶ ᾿Αμ-
μανίτας, καὶ Μωαβίτας, καὶ ᾿Ιτουραίους, καὶ Ναβαταίους, καὶ
Ναβδαίους" “ David made war with the Edomites, the Am-
monites, the Moabites, the Itureans, the Nabathites), and
Nabdites.” He had said before, ‘“ That he had subdued the
Syrians dwelling by Euphrates and Comagene, καὶ τοὺς ἐν
Γαλαδηνῇ ᾿Ασσυρίους καὶ Φοίνικας, the Assyrians and Pheeni-
cians that were in Galadene.”
“ Secusi mare Galilee viam carpentes,” &e. “ Taking
the way by the sea of Galilee, we entered Pheenice, and,
leaving Paneas, which is Ceesarea Philippi, on the right hand,
we came to Iturea.”
“ Rex * pertransiens agrum Sidonensem,” ὅσο. “ The king
passing through the country of Sidon, and going up some
hilly places which lay between ours and the enemy’s borders,
he came! to a place every way accommodated with all neces-
saries, a fruitful soil and well watered; the name of it Mes-
sahara. Going thence into the valley called Bacar, he found
the Iand which hath been said to flow with milk and honey.
Some are of opinion that this country was of old called Iturea.
Sohail v.23: i Gul. Tyr. de Bell. Sacro, lib. ix.
f Strabo, lib. xvi. [c. 2.] cap. I5.
& Eupolemus in Euseb. Prepar. k Tbid. lib. 21. cap. 11.
Evangel. lib. ix. cap. 30. 1 English folio edit., vol. ii. p.
h Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p.475- 366.
904 Chorographical Notes.
But long before that, viz. in the days of the kings of Israel, it
was called the Grove of Libanus.”
Where at length shall we find this Iturea! Had Philip any
part of his tetrarchy within Cyrrhestica, or Chalcis of Syria?
And yet, if you believe either Pliny or Strabo, there were the
Itureans. I suspect there is something couched in the ety-
mology of the word, that may as much puzzle as the situation
of the place.
If Bacar, as it is described by Tyrius, be indeed Iturea, it
may be derived from "3 Hittur, which signifies wealth ;
or from ΔΝ), which denotes crowning, especially when the
country itself is crowned with so much plenty. It is a notion
familiar enough amongst the Talmudic authors.
Indeed, if I could believe that Iturea were the same with
Decapolis, then I would suppose the word Wy ten might
have been altered by the change of w (Shin) into M (Thau),
according to the Syriac manner: but I neither can believe
that, nor have I ever met with such a change made in that
word, but rather that it would go into D (Samech).
May it not, therefore, be derived from “NN Chitture,
diggings, because of the caves and hollows underground ?
So that the Iturei might signify the same with Troglodyte,
“ those that dwell in caverns and holes.” And so the Trog-
lodytes, which were on the north of Israel, are distinguished
from those on the south, viz. the Horites in Edom. Now
that these countries, of which we are treating, were peculiarly
noted for caves and dens; and they not only numerous, but
some very strange and wonderful, Strabo, Josephus, Tyrius,
and others, do abundantly testify.
ὙὙπέρκεινται ἴὰ δὲ αὐτῆς [Δαμάσκου] δύο λεγόμενοι Τράχωνες"
‘There are, beyond Damascus, two mountains called Tra-
chones.” Afterward; ‘ Towards Arabia and Iturea, there
are some cragged hills, famous for large and deep caves; one
of which was capable of receiving four thousand men in it.”
But that was a prodigious cave of Zedekiah’s, wherever it
was, that was eighteen miles’ space ; at least, if those things
be true which are related concerning it ἢ,
There was a cave beyond Jordan, about sixteen miles from
m Strabo, lib. xvi. [c. 2.] " Bemidbar Rab. fol. 211. 2.
Abilene. 305
Tiberias, that was three stories high; had a lower, a middle,
and an upper dining-room®. Which, indeed, was fortified,
and held a garrison of soldiers in it.
So that we may, not without reason, conjecture the Iturea
of which we now speak might be so called from ΤΙ
Chitture, such kind of diggings under~ ground: and that
Pliny and Strabo, when they talk of the “ nation of the Itu-
reans in Cyrrhestieca and Chalcis,” do not place the country
of Iturea there ; only hinted that the Troglodytes, who dwelt
in dens and caves, were there.
Iturea therefore, mentioned by our evangelists, was in the
country beyond Jordan, viz. Batanea and Auranitis, or Au-
ranitis alone, as may appear out of Josephus, compared with
this our evangelist. For St. Luke saith, that “ Philip was
tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis:” Josephus, that he was
tetrarch of Trachonitis, Batanea, and Auranitis. Either,
therefore, Auranitis and Batanea in Josephus is the Iturea in
St. Luke, or else Batanea in Josephus is confounded with
Trachonitis mentioned in St. Luke, and Auranitis alone is
Iturea. For that passage in Josephus? ought to be taken
notice of : Δωρεῖται τὸν ᾿Αγρίππαν τῇ Φιλίππου τετραρχίᾳ, καὶ
Βαταναίᾳ. προσθεὶς αὐτῷ τὴν Τραχωνίτιν σὺν ᾿Αβέλλᾳ: ““ Ceesar
invests Agrippa with the tetrarchy that Philip had, and Ba-
tanea, adding moreover Trachonitis with Abella.” Where
it is observable, that there is mention of the tetrarchy of
Philip, distinct from Batanea and Trachonitis. And what
is that? certainly Auranitis in Josephus, and perhaps Iturea
in St. Luke.
Srecr. VIJ.—Abrlene.
Josrpnus, in the words before quoted, speaking of Abella,
adds this passage; Avoavia δὲ αὕτη ἐγεγόνει τετραρχία, “ that
had been the tetrarchy of Lysanias.” So also Ptolemy ;
᾿Αβίλα ἐπικληθεῖσα Λυσανίου, “ Abila, that bore the name of
Lysanias :” and he reckons this up among the cities of Ceelo-
syria, under these degrees :—
Heliopolis 68. 40. 33. 40.
bila is 1 OS) Ase 55) 20:
Pliny4 speaks of Abila in that country: “ Paneas, in qua Cee-
ο Gul. Tyr. lib. xxxiii. ΤΡ. p- 8go. 1. 28. ᾿Αβίλᾳ.] [xx. 7. 1.]
P Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 5. [Huds. a Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 18.
LIGHTFOOT, VOL. 1. x
900 Chorographical Notes.
sarea, cum supra dicto fonte [viz. cap. 15.] Abila, Area,
Ampeloessa, Gabo.”
It’ is not without cause distinguished by its relation to
Lysanias, because in one place or another there were several
Abilas or Abellas: for the Hebrew word 5a3y Abel goes
into that pronunciation in the Greek : and there were many
places of that name.
Abel-shittim, where the Israelites pitched their tents im-
mediately after they had passed the river Jordan, in Jose-
phuss ist called Aida, Abila, “ distant from Jordan three-
score furlongs :” which he also mentions with Julias κατὰ ἃ
τὴν Περαίαν, in Perea. here is also Abel-meholah, and
Abel-beth-maachah, &e.
Near this sound comes Tpabere) Doar Abelas * of the
Cilicians. The very word YAN Abilene is in Vajicra
Rabbay; ONPM NIw bipm «The Sabeans fell upon them,
and took them away. (Job i. 15.) “πὰ. Abin Bar Cahna saith,
ΘΒ 355 NZ They came out of Caphar Karinus, sob
poann 65 AN and they went through all Abilene, and came
to ΝΣ ΝΣ baa Migdol Zabaiah, and there died.”
Srecr. VIII.—2 Sam. xx. 18 discussed.
Awonest all the cities and countries that bear the name of
Abel, the most celebrated is that in 2 Sam. xx, made famous
by the history of a foolish Sheba and a wise woman. The
woman's expression is not a little wrested and tortured by
interpreters : soya INW siond MWR WAN WA
2 WANT 131 basa “They were wont to speak in old time,
saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel; and so they
ended the matter.”
The Greek version hath more perplexed it: Λόγον ἐλάλησαν
ἐν πρώτοις, λέγοντες, ἐρωτημένος ἠρωτήθη ἐν τῇ ᾿Αβὲλ Kal ἐν
Δὰν, εἰ ἐξέλιπον ἃ ἔθεντο οἱ πιστοὶ τοῦ ᾿Ισραήλ. ᾿Ερωτῶντες
ἐπερωτήσουσιν ἐν ᾿Αβὲλ, καὶ οὕτως εἰ ἐξέλιπον: The Latin inter-
preter renders it thus: “ They spake a word in former days,
saying, Asking he was asked in Abel and in Dan, if those
τ Enylish folio edit., vol. ii. p. 367. α De Bell. lib. ii. 22. [ii. 13. 2.]
S Antiq. lib. v. cap. 1. [v. 1. 1.] x Targ. Jonath. upon Numb.
t Leusden’s edition, vol. il. p.476. xxxiv. 8. y Fol. 184. 1.
2 Sam. xx. 18, discussed. 307
things have failed which the faithful of Israel laid up. Asking
they will ask in Abel, and so if they have failed.”
If any one can make any tolerable sense of these words,
he would do well to teach others how to do it too; especially
let them tell the reason why Dan should be added here. [10
is true Dan and Abel-beth-maachah are mentioned together
as not very distant from one another, 1 Kings xv. 20: and
if we do by the words understand their neighbourhood to
one another, I see nothing else that can be picked out of
them.
However, both the Roman and Alexandrian editions agree
in this reading, which have the preference of all other
editions of the Greek version. And let them now, who
are for correcting the Hebrew Bibles by the Greek, say,
whether they are for having them corrected here ; only let
them give me leave to enjoy the Hebrew text as we now
have it.
The Hebrew makes the sense plain, if the first words
MWA FAT ABT be but rightly applied, namely, to
Sheba and his party speaking; “When Sheba and his fol-
lowers came hither, they at first certainly said thus, That
they would ask Abel of its peace, or on whose side it was,
WAIT {21 and so they made the matter entire,’ or made a
show of their own integrity. For that that Joab was chiefly
to be satisfied in, was, that this city had not taken part with
the conspirators ; which is directly done, if we admit this
sense and interpretation of the words. This prudent woman
assures him, that “those of Abel had by no means invited
Sheba and his fellow-rebels into their town, or by any consent
with them in their rebellions, would ever willingly have
admitted them; but that they were miserably deceived by
their fawning and false words, while they only pretended to
inquire about the peace and well-being of that city: and
that you may know more effectually that all this is true
which I now affirm to you, we will immediately throw you
the head of Sheba over our wall.”
908 Chorographical Notes.
CHA Pui
Sarepta.
I. Zarephath, Obadiah, ver. 20, where. 11. Sepharad, where.
III. The situation of Sarepta.
Srecr. I.—Zarephath, Obad. ver. 20, where.
Sarepra, in the story of Elijah, 1 Kings xvii, is written
in Hebrew NOV Tzarephath, and with the same letters in
Obad. ver. 20: and therefore it may be reasonably inquired,
whether it be one and the same place. Indeed, there would
hardly be any doubt in it, but that the Jews ordinarily by
ND|IW, understand Hrance; and by MEO Sepharad, which by
the prophet is used in the very same verse, Spain. The
words of the prophet are very variously rendered; and yet
in all that variety, nothing hinders but that Zarephath there
may be understood of the Zarephath mentioned in the Kings.
For whether the passage concern the captivity’s being de-
tained in Zarephath, or the captivity’s possessing the land
to Zarephath (for in that variety chiefly the words are ex-
pounded), in either sense it may well enough be, that the
‘Sarepta that belongs to Zidon’ may be the scene of the
affair. As to the former, if we compare but that passage
concerning Tyre, the sister of Sidon, Amos i. 9, and withal
the potency and dominion of the Sidonians, it may not be
improbable but that the Israelites might be captived in
Sarepta of Sidon. And as to the latter, whereas in the verse
immediately before, the discourse is of the possession of the
mount of Esau, of the fields of Ephraim, Samaria, and Gilead,
and then there is mention of possessing the land of Canaan
as far as Zarephath, who would seek Zarephath in France,
and not in some neighbouring place, according to all the rest
of the places there named, which were all very near? Let me
add moreover, that whereas there is mention of possessing
the land of the Canaanites ‘even unto Zarephath,” the Greek
interpreters will tell you who those Canaanites were that are
distinguished from the rest of the nations in the land of
Canaan; viz. the Pheenicians, Josh. y.1. And by the ‘kings
z English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 368.
Sepharad ; where. 309
of the Hittites,’ mentioned 1 Kings x. 29 and 2 Kings vii. 6,
Τ would likewise suppose the βασιλεῖς τῆς Φοινίκης Phoenician
kings.
Secor. I1.2—Sepharad, where.
Tue Italian interpreter for Sepharad retains Zarphath :
for so he; “ Kt i transferiti de questo esercito de figlioli de
Israel, che sono de Chenahanei, in fino a Zarphath, et i
transferiti di Jerusalem, che sono in Zarphath,”’ &c. Whe-
ther too warily or too unwarily he hath thus done, let him
look to that himself.
The Greek hath ’E¢paéa, Ephratha, with which the Ara-
bian interpreter agrees. But the Syriac with the Targumist,
Spam. The Vulgar, Bosphorus, confusedly ; besides that it
makes the preposition 3 a radical letter. And yet Nobilius
hath this passage: ‘St. Jerome tells us, the other interpreters
agreed with the Hebrew word Sepharad, which he rendered
Bosphorus.” [f he means that all agreed in acknowledging
the word Sepharad, he tells us no news; but who agreed
with his word Bosphorus?
[ must confess, Sepharad is not a place so obvious as
Zarephath, nor ean any thing be offered in it but conjecture
only: and if I might be allowed my guess, I would look for
Sepharad in Edom rather than in Spain: and that because
Obadiah prophesies against the Edomites properly so called.
Whereas, therefore, he tells us, That the captivity of Israel,
in Sarepta of the Pheenicians, shall possess the land of the
Canaanites, it is probable he means, by the eaptivity in Se-
pharad, those captives in Edom who shall possess the cities
of the south. The Zarphathani, or Sareptani were of the
north, the Sepharadani of the south, amongst the "Epeyor Ὁ,
Erembi. Ods εἰκὸς λέγειν τοὺς Τρογλοδύτας "Αραβας" “ whom
you may rightly call the Troglodyte Arabs,” saith Strabo ὁ ;
that is, probably, the Horims in mount Seir; for I suspect
Horim, by ill use, might form itself into Hremb.
If¢ we consider that the Jews do generally by Edom un-
derstand the Roman empire, and indeed all the Christian
nations in the west, we shall easily perceive why they fix
a [,eusden’s edition, vol. 11. p. 477. μολογοῦσιν οὕτως οἱ πολλοὶ ovs μετα-
Ὁ Hom. Odyss. ὃ. [84.] λαβόντες οἱ ὕστερον, ἐπὶ τὸ σαφέστε-
ὁ Strab. 110. 1. [c.2.] [Amd τοῦ εἰς ρον, Τρωγλοδύτας ἐκάλεσαν.
τὴν ἔραν ἐμβαίνειν τοὺς Ερέμβους ἐτυ- 4 English folio edit., νο]. 11. p. 369.
310 Ch orograph ical Notes.
these places, Zarephath and Sepharad, so far from Palestine.
For Obadiah prophesying against the Edomites, properly so
called, the Jews change the scene and persons according to
the vulgar construction of Edom, which they had received
amongst themselves.
δέον, [{Π1.- 716 situation of Sarepta.
‘Inne® [a Tyro] Sarepta, et Ornithon oppida; et Sidon
artifex vitri, Thebarumque Beeotiarum parens:” ‘ From
Tyre is Sarepta and Ornithon, certain towns so ealled: Sidon
where glass is made. and from whence sprang the Beeotian
Thebes.”
Borchard : “Δ Tyro ad tres leuecas admodum breves,” &e.
“About three very short leagues from Tyre, the river Eleu-
therus runs into the sea: about two leagues from that river
is Sarepta: about two leagues from Sarepta is Sidon. Sa-
repta, at this time, doth not consist of above eight houses,
though the ruins do still say it was once a brave town.”
Some would have Zarephath signify as much as a place
of melting ; from boiling and melting metals, but especially
glass ἢ,
“ Between 8 Acon and Tyre there is a shore all spread over
with little hillocks of sand; φέρων τὴν ὑαλίτιν ἄμμον, that
bears a glassy sand: the glass indeed is not cast here, but
being carried to Sidon, there it is made fusile,” &e.
CHAP: ΤΙ:
Nain. Luke vii. r1.
I. Concerning Nain near Tabor, shewn to strangers. LL. Con-
cerning Nain in Josephus and the Rabbins. 111. The Greek
version of DIA Py Engannim.
Seer. 1.—Concerning Nain near Tabor, shewn to strangers.
In the Alexandrian copy ]VY jon is Naiv, Nain, 1 Kings
xv. 20: in the Roman it is "Atv Ain. So Hazar-enan, Numb.
xxxiv. 9, in the Roman copy is ’Apoevdiv Arsenain ; in the
Alexandrian, ’Acepvaiv, Asernain. Neither of them agrees
© Plin, lib. v. cap. 10. a scoriis separavit. Gesen. sub v. |
f [pix liquavit metallum spec. & Strabo, lib. xvi. [ς. 2.]
aurum argentumve, igne purgavit et
Nain. 911
with our Nain: for it is very absurd to conceive that our
Saviour ever was at Hazar-enan, the utmost borders of the
land towards Syria; nor can we suppose him in Ijon, that
seeming to be according to the order of the places as they are
ranked in the text above quoted, either beyond Dan, or in
the extremest borders of the land on that side.
As to our Nain, Borchard saith thus; ‘‘ A Nazareth duabus
leucis,” &e. “Two leagues from Nazareth, not much above
one from mount Tabor southward, is mount Hermon the
less, on the north side of which is the city Nain; at whose
gates Jesus recovered a widow’s son from death, as we read
Luke vii.” So also Breidenbach : so some tables as to the
situation of Hermon and Tabor, near the situation of Nain
near Hermon. '
I am well enough satisfied that they should place Nain in
the tribe of Issachar, if there be no mistake among them
as to mount Tabor. For whereas Tabor is indeed the very
utmost border of Issachar northward, Josh. xix. 22, it? must
needs be that what is beyond that southward, a league or
two, should be reckoned within that tribe. But I much sus-
pect the Tabor mentioned by them, and that which is now
shewn to travellers, is not the true Tabor: nor do I much
question but that Hermon, of which they talk, is made out
of a mistake and misconstruction of Psalm Ixxxix.12, “Tabor
and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.” My scruple as to
mount Tabor ariseth hencei; because that Κα Tabor, which is
shewn to strangers, as our countryman Biddulph!, and another
acquaintance of mine own, who were on the top of it, do de-
scribe it, does not at all agree with the description Josephus
gives us of the true mount Tabor. Our countryman tells us,
«Tt is a hill not very steep, nor very high, nor very large ;
but a round beautiful hill,” &e. On the contrary, ‘IraBipiov
ὄρος ov τὸ μὲν ὕψος ἐπὶ τριάκοντα σταδίους ἀνίσχει, μόλις προσ-
βατὸν κατὰ τὸ προσάρκτιον κλίμα, πεδίον δέ ἐστιν ἡ κορυφὴ, στα-
δίων ἐξ καὶ εἴκοσι “ Mount™ Tabor is in height thirty furlongs,
very difficult of ascent on the north side; the top is a great
plain of about six-and-twenty furlongs.”
h Joseph. Antiq. lib. v. cap. τ. 1 [Travels, p. 101. |
[τ 22: m Joseph. de Bell. lib. iv. cap. 16.
i Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p.478. [Hudson, p. 1163. 1. 41.] [iv. 1. 8.]
k English folio edit., vol.ii. p.370.
$12 Chorographical Notes.
The Persian interpreter, instead of Nain, hath pba?
Nabelis, that is, Neapolis, which is also Sychem: but for
what reason, | know not. Nor do [ suppose that it was con-
ceived by any one expositor, that the widow’s son, whom
Christ raised from death, was a Samaritan; he was indeed
upon the borders of Samaria, but a great distance from
Sychar.
Secor. [1.—Concerning the Natn or Naim in Josephus
and the Rabbins.
Tur Darshanim [expositors] upon Bereshith Rabba™ speak
of a certain place called O°} Naim, upon this occasion :
‘“ Issachar is a bony [or strong] ass, Gen. xlix.14. It is
spoken of Issachar’s country; for as an ass is low before and
behind, and high in the middle, so is it in the tribe of
Issachar; it is a valley here and a valley there, and hilly
otherwhere ; it couches between two borders. ‘These are the
two valleys, toon Mypa the valley of Pislan, and the valley
of Jezreel. And he saw that rest was good, DYIN VW this ἐδ
Tinaam: and the land that it was pleasant, OY) VW this ts
Naim.”
We have here, by the way, a taste of those allegorical and
far-fetched ways of expounding the Scriptures, wherein these
egregious commentators do so much please and value them-
selves. However, we are thus far beholding to them, that
they have given us to understand that there was a Nain in
the tribe of Issachar, called so from the pleasantness of its
situation (as indeed Oy3M Tinaam bears the same derivation),
which we have some reason to judge was the same Nain with
ours in the evangelist, and that in Josephus.
“ Tt" was usual for the Galileans, coming up to the holy
city to the feasts, to take their journey through the Samari-
tans’ country, καὶ τότε καθ᾽ ὁδὸν αὐτοῖς κώμης τῆς Ndis λεγομένης"
“And then their way lay through a town called Nais.” I
confess the Greek expressions are something perplexed ; but
it is no great matter. “It happened that some of the Sama-
ritans and inhabitants of the great plain fought with them,
and killed a great number.”
You may think he repeats the very same story, though
m Sect. 98. n Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 5. [xx. 6. 1. Γιναίας, Hudson. |
Engannim. 313
differing in some circumstances. “ There ° was another fight
betwixt the Galileans and Samaritans; κατὰ yap τὴν Γήμαν κα-
᾿ λουμένην κώμην, ἥτις ἐν TO μεγάλῳ πεδίῳ κεῖται τῆς Σαμαρείτιδος"
For hard by a town called Gema, situated in the great plain
of Samaria, multitudes of Jews going up to the feast, there
was a certain Galilean slain.”
It is not much worth our examining whether this be one
and the same story with the other, or whether this Gema be
the same town with Nain: but this we may gather hence,
that Nain was in the extreme borders of Issachar, touching
upon the Samaritan country, and Gema in the extreme
borders of Samaria that were next adjoining to Issachar.
And when the Galileans went down from Nain, a town in
Issachar, into the great plain of Samaria, the first town
in their way is Gema, there the enemy meets and fights
them: if at least Gema and Nain be not one and the same
place.
Sror. IL1.—Hngannim.
Tuere is a great inclination in me to believe that Naim
is the same with Engannim, mentioned Josh. xix. 21, xxi. 29.
For, 1. Both of them were within the tribe of Issachar; En-
gannim, as the Holy Scriptures, and Nain, as the Jewish
doctors tell us; and why we should not take their word in
such a thing as this, 1 know no reason. 2. Both of them
signify pleasantness: Naim, in the very etymon, implies plea-
santness: and Engannim, a fountain of gardens. 3. The En-
gannim, mentioned Josh. xxi. 29, in 1 Chron. vi. 73, is DIY
Anem. Now if you transpose the letters (as is done in MND
and DT) 3, it will be OY Naim. 4. Let me add that En-
gannim (if there be any credit to those guides that commonly
shew these places to travellers) lies directly in the way going
from Galilee to Jerusalem ; and so, as is very evident, was
our Naim. Of this place, thus our countryman Biddulphp:
“ἃ town, commonly called Jenine, of old Engannim : exceed-
ingly pleasant, abounding with waters and gardens, and de-
lightsome walks.”
Why' the Seventy should render 5°) Py Hngannim by
° De Bell. lib.ii. cap. 21. [ii.12.3.] and Judges ii. 9, in Hebrew. Com-
P [Travels, pp. 102, 103. | pare p. 319.
4 [See Joshua xix. 50; xxiv. 30; © English folto edit., vol.ii. p. 371.
914 Chorographical Notes.
πηγὴ γραμμάτων, a fountain of letters, Josh. xxi. 29, let thoge
that are more learned, search out. It is true, the children
of Issachar are celebrated for their skill in computing the
times, 1 Chron. xii. 32; where the Targumist, “* They were
skilled in calculating the beginnings of the years, the calends
of the months, and the intercalation both of years and months:
NWOT stows PUD DID, sophists [skilful] ix new moons,
δ Ξ|3}31 Ἐν αι PAVPIIN astrologers [conversant] about
planets and stars,” &e.
If we would include the Levites, that dwelt amongst the
tribe of Issachar, under the general name of Issachar, then
might Engannim, being a Levitical city, be an academy for
that kind of mathematical learning; but in both we are very
uncertain. Nor is it less obscure, that the same Greek in-
terpreter hath, instead of Remeth, Engannim4, Enhaddah,
and Bethpazes, rendered, ἹΡεμμὰς, καὶ ᾿Ιεὼν, καὶ Τομμὰν, καὶ
Αἰμαρὲκ, καὶ Βηρσάφης: “ Remmas, and Jeon, and Tomman,
and marec, and Bersaphes,” Josh. xix. 21.
CHAP ve
Emmaus. Luke xxiv.
I. Several things about its name and place. 11. Its situation.
ΠῚ. Some story of it. Also of Timnath and mount Gilead,
Judg. vii. 3.
Seer. ].—Several things about its name and place.
We have spoken something already concerning Emmaus
in our Chorographical Century, chap. xlv; let us add some
few things in this place.
I. Τὸ was distant from Jerusalem, as appears both from
our evangelist and Josephus', about threescore furlongs.
By account of common furlongs, seven miles and a half,
eight of the Jewish. What copy, therefore, of Josephus must
the learned Beza have by him, who thus speaks upon the
place? “Egjxovra, ** sixty; so the Syriac hath it, and indeed
all copies : so that here is either a mistake in the number, or
else it is ill written in Josephus, thirty furlongs.” Our Jo-
sephus plainly hath it, χώριον ὃ καλεῖται μὲν ᾿Αμμαοὺς ἀπέχει
δὲ τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων σταδίους ἑξήκοντα" “ A town ealled Em-
maus, distant from Jerusalem threescore furlongs.”
4 Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 479.
r Lib. de Bell. 7. cap. 27. [Hudson, p. 1311. 1. 17.} [vii. 6. 6.]
Emmaus. $15
II. The Syriac, Arabic, and Persian interpreters write the
name in the evangelist with an » at the beginning; the Sy-
riac and Persian ΟΝ. So also the Syriac in 1 Mace. ii.
40. But the Arabic DN'YAY, the Talmudists DIN'ON, with &
in the beginning. Indeed, in Talm. Bab. in Erachin, fol. το. 1,
it is written DINO Y; but in the Misnaioth, printed by itself,
it is ΝΜ. So it is in Succah, fol. 51. 5.
III. Josephus commonly renders Chammath of Tiberias
(a place so called from the hot baths) by ᾿Αμμαοῦς, Ammaus ;
but whether our Emmaus ought to have this derivation, is a
question. There were, indeed, at Emmaus, noted waters ;
but we can hardly suppose they were warm, if we consider
but the usual writing of the word amongst the Talmudists.
“ Rabbans Jochanan Ben Zacchai had five disciples, who,
while he lived, sat always with him; but when he died, they
retired to Jabneh. But R. Eliezer Ben Erech betook himself
to his wife pina at Emmaus, 1D) M3) DD OW a place
of pleasant waters and pleasant dwelling.” There is some-
thing in this little story that might not be unworthy our in-
quiry, as to the scholastical history of the Jews; viz. where
Rabban Jochanan should make his abode, if not in Jabneh !
for that is the place they commonly allot to him; but this is
not a place to dispute of such matters.
“ Perveneruntt Nicopolim,” &c. ‘“ They came to Nico-
polis: now Nicopolis is a city in Palestine. This the book
of the gospel calls Emmaus, while it was yet a village. There,
through the plenty of good waters, and all necessary provi-
sions, they enjoyed a good comfortable night.”
This author, upon this occasion, quotes some passages
out of Sozomen, in the sixth book of the Tripartite History,
which are in his fifth book, chap. 20; wherein the waters at ἃ
Emmaus are celebrated not only for their plenty and plea-
santness, but as they were wonderfully wholesome and me-
dicinal. For thus he: “ There is a city in Palestine, which
now hath the name of Nicopolis, of which the holy gospel
makes mention as of a village (for then it was so), καὶ ᾿Εμμᾶ
προσαγορεύει, and calls it Emma. The Romans, having sacked
Jerusalem, and gained an entire victory over the Jews, from
S Midrash Coheleth, fol. ror. 2. u English folio edition, vol. i.
τ Gul. Tyr. lib. vii. cap. 24. p- 272.
316 Chorographical Notes.
the event of that war, gave this town the name of Nicopolis.
Before the city near the road (where our Saviour, after he
had arisen from the dead, walking with Cleophas, made as if
he was hastening to another town), there is a certain medi-
cinal spring, wherein not only men that are sick, being
washed, are cured, but other sort of animals also, of whatso-
ever diseases they are afflicted with. The report is, that
Christ, as he was once going that way with his disciples,
turned aside to that fountain; and having washed his feet in
it, the waters have ever since retained a healing quality and
virtue in them.”
We leave the credit of the story to the relater of it: only
one thing we may observe from the hint he gives us, that it
is no wonder if, in the evangelist’s time, Emmaus was but a
little village, when as, not long before it, it had been burnt
and destroyed by Varus*. Nor is it more strange, that its
ancient name Emmaus should change into Nicopolis, when
the place itself became a Roman colonyy.
Sror. [1.-- 7 sttuation.
Protemy tells us something of its situation by its degrees,
saying, “ Emmaus, 65. 45. 31. 45.”
As to the vicinage of countries or places adjacent, thus
the Jerusalem Talmud 2: 7 DINOS AY yn m3 From
Beth-horon to Emmaus it is hilly. sony) ab IW DINOND
From Emmaus to Lydda it is champaign ; and from Lydda to
the sea is valley.”
If you would hear Ptolemy more largely, thus he writes :
Jamnia . 65. 40. 32. Ὁ.
Ihydda... 6: “or 95 iro:
Antipatris 66. 20. 32. 0.
Emmaus 65. 45. 31. 45.
Jerusalem 66. 0. 31. 40.
Although this account of the distance betwixt Jerusalem
and Emmaus doth not very well agree with what our evan-
gelist and Josephus have said, yet may we learn from the
x Joseph. Antiq. lib. xvii.cap.12. [vii 6. 6.]
[xvii. 10.9.] and de Bell. lib. ii. cap. z Shevith, fol. 38. 4.]
ΠῚ 5: 1 a Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p.
y Id. de Bell. lib. vii. cap. 27. 480.
Emmaus. Timnath. Mount Gilead. 317
places named along with it, in what quarter of the heaven
it was situated. To all which we may add that of Josephus,
Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 11. [xii. 7. 4.] and 1 Mace. iv: Judas
Maccabeus engages with Gorgias near Emmaus: the Gor-
gians fly, and the Maccabeans pursue, μέχρι Γαδάρων, καὶ τῶν
πεδίων τῆς ᾿Ιδουμαίας, καὶ ᾿Αζώτου, καὶ Ἰαμνείας, “as far as
Gadaron (Gezer) to the plains of Idumea, Azotus, and Jam-
nla.”
I therefore recite this passage, that it may appear that
Emmaus lay towards Galilee, although from Jerusalem it in-
clined also westward. For whereas, concerning the latitude
of Galilee extending itself from west to east, there must of
necessity be several roads from Jerusalem to this or that part
of it ; so this through Emmaus was one, through Beth-horon
another, through Antipatris a third; if, at least, this last
did not fall in with that of Emmaus. That passage in Gul.
Tyrius> makes me think it might; who, describing the en-
campings and journeyings of the crusade army, tells us,
« Leaving the maritime towns, Antipatris and Joppa on the
right, they passed through Eleutheria, and came to Lydda,
which is Diospolis.”. And cap. 24, “ From whence, taking
guides along with them, persons well skilled in those places,
they came to Nicopolis :” which is the same with Emmaus.
From all which we may reasonably presume that the two
disciples were going to Emmaus, not as to the utmost limit
of their journey, but as that lay in their way towards Galilee.
Sxcr. I1].—Some story of it. Also of Timnath and
mount Gilead, Judg. vii. 3.
To what tribe Emmaus belonged would be something
hard to determine, because of the situation of Beth-horon,
which was in Ephraim, Josh. xvi; but that the Talmudists
do clearly enough say, it was not in the Samaritan country.
« They © were servants of the priests, saith R. Meir. But
R. Jose saith, They were of the family of Beth Pegarim, and
Beth Zippory, in Emmaus, who had placed their daughters in
marriage with the priests.”
The‘ discourse is about the musicians in the Temple ; and
b Lib. ii. cap. 22. ¢ Erachin, fol. 10. 1. Succah, fol. 51. 1.
4 English folio edit., vol. il. p. 373.
918 Choroaraphical Notes.
the dispute is, whether they were Levites or Israelites, par-
ticularly natives of Emmaus, the natives of those two families,
who, for their purity, were thought worthy to be taken into
the affinity and blood of the priests themselves. And this
passage, indeed, puts it out of all question, that Emmaus
was not within the tribe of Ephraim; because it would be
ridiculous to suppose that either Samaritan women should
be joined in marriage with the priests, or that Samaritan
men should be permitted to play on the instruments in the
Temple. Emmaus, therefore, must be placed in the tribe of
3enjamin, which what it was called before is not easy to
guess.
I conceive there is mention made of this place in Siphra¢:
“ R. Akibah said; I asked Rabban Gamaliel and R. Joshua
DINDN by» sbpyn in the shambles of Emmaus, when they
went to receive the beast to make a feast for their son,” &c.
Now Rabban Gamaliel and R. Joshua were both of Jabneh ;
so that, by considering the situation of Jabneh, we may more
confidently believe that they were in the Emmaus we are
speaking of. We have the same passage in Maccoth, fol.
fide le
It was one of the larger cities: for so Josephus speaks of
it; Katt τέσσαρας πόλεις ἐξανδραποδίζεται Κάσσιος, ὧν ἦσαν αἱ
δυνατώταται Γόφνα τε καὶ ᾿Εμμαοῦς, πρὸς ταύταις δὲ Λύδδα καὶ
Θαμνά: “ Cassius disfranchized four cities, the greatest of
which was Gophna and Emmaus; and next to these was
Lydda and Thamna.”
Under the disposition of the duke of Palestine amongst
the rest, was “ Ala Antala of the dromedaries of Admatha ;”
where Pancirole notes, that Admatha in St. Jerome, in his
Hebrew Places, is called ‘ Ammata.’ This, by the agreeable-
ness of sound, may seem to be our Emmaus; unless, more pro-
bably, at this time it bore the name of Nicopolis.
When I take notice that Chammath mM or the ‘ Baths
of Tiberias, are commonly in the Greek rendered ’Appaois,
and withal, that our Emmaus was much celebrated for famous
waters; I cannot forget the ‘ waters of Nephtoah,’ or the
‘ Fountain of Etam,’ from whenee water was conveyed by
€ Fol. 9. 4. son, p. 637. 1.18.] [xiv. 11. 2.]
f Antiq. lib. xiv. cap. 18. [Hud- & Notitia Imper. Orient.
Emmaus. Timnath. Mount Gilead. 319
pipes into the Temple. This was in the same quarter from
Jerusalem with our Emmaus: so that our ᾿Εμμαοῦς may as
well be derived from [WON Ammath, a channel of waters, as
well as the other ’Appaots from Mam Chammath, the warm
baths. But this I leave to the reader’s judgment.
In memory of this place, let us record a story out of Sige-
vert’s Chronicle, in the reigns of Theodosius and Valenti-
nianus: “ At this time, in a garrison in Judea called Em-
maus, there was a perfect child born. From the navel up-
ward he was divided, so that he had two breasts and two
heads, either of which had their proper senses belonging to
them: the one ate when the other did not, the one slept
when the other was awake. Sometime they slept both to-
gether; they played one with another; they both wept, and
would strike one another. They lived near two years; and
after one had died the other survived about four days.”
If this two-headed child was the issue of a Jew, then}
might that question be solved which is propounded, (Mena-
coth, fol. 37. 1.) DWNT DW "Ὁ ww Ὁ If any one should
have two heads, ἜΡΙΝ ΓΙ [TD TPN on which of the fore-
heads should the phylacteries be bound ? No mean scruple
indeed. But let us have from the Glossator as consider-
able a story: ‘* Asmodeus produced, from under the pave-
ment before Solomon, a man with two heads. He marries a
wife, and begot children like himself, with two heads, and
like his wife, with one. When the patrimony comes to be
divided, he that had two heads requires a double portion ;
and the cause was brought before Solomon to be decided
by him.”
As to that Thamna, or Timnath, which Josephus, in the
place above quoted, makes mention of, it is disputed in So-
tah, fol. 17. 1; where “ Rabh asserts that there were two
Timnaths, one in Judea, and the other that of Samson.”
We all know of a third of that name, Joshua’s Timnath,
viz. Timnath-serah in mount Ephraim, where Joshua was
buried, Josh. xxiv. 30. Here give the Rabbins a little play,
and let them trifle by transposing the names of MAD Serah
and DM Cheres, and from thence ground a fiction, that the
image of the sun was fixed upon the sepulchre of Joshua, in
h Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 481.
30 Chorographical Notes.
remembrance of the sun’s miraculous standing still by his
word. This is like them. Nor, indeed, is that of a much
better mould, which the Seventy add, ἐκεῖ ἔθηκαν μετ᾽ αὖ-
τοῦ els τὸ μνῆμα, &e. “ There they put into the monument
with him the stone-knives, with which he circumcised the
children of Israel in Gilgal, when he brought them out of
Egypt. as the Lord had commanded them.” Were these,
think you, in the Hebrew text once, and have they slipped
out since? Do they not rather savour of the Samaritan
Gloss, or the Jewish tradition ἵ
They recede from the Hebrew text in the same story, but
something more tolerably, when they render ΣᾺ Ww ? PEs
“ on the north side of the hill Gaash,” ᾿Απὸ Βορρᾶ τοῦ ὄρους
τοῦ Γαλαὰδ, ““ from the north side of the hill Galaad :” where,
as far as I am able to judge, they do not paraphrase ill,
though they do not render it to the letter. Let us consider
that obscure passage which hath so much vexed interpreters,
in Judges vii. 3; ‘ Proclaim now in the ears of the people,
saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, ayaa WD TES) a
let’ him return and depart early from mount Gilead. The place
where this thing was acted was either in or very near the vale
of Jezreel, distant from mount Gilead beyond Jordan, twenty
or thirty miles; and therefore how could these Gideonites de-
part from mount Gilead? Iam not ignorant what some do
allege towards the untying this knot, viz. that it should be
taken thus, ‘“‘ Whoever be of mount Gilead, Jet them return.”
The Targumist to this sense ; ‘‘ Whosoever is fearful, let him
return, TY PIT NV Wan and let choice be made out of
mount Gilead ; i. 6. * Let the Gileadites be chosen. But
whether his meaning was that the Gileadites should be chosen
to remain because they are not afraid, or be chosen to re-
turn because they were; I shall not reckon it worth the while
to inquire.
But may not mount Gilead in this place be understood
of the hill Gaash? It is certain the situation agrees well
enough; and perhaps there is no great difference in the
name.
Whence that mount Gilead beyond Jordan first had its
name, is not unknown . namely, from that ἦξαρ of stones,
i English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 374.
Emmaus. Timnath. Mount Gilead. 321
set up by Jacob for a witness of the covenant betwixt him
and Laban. (Gen. xxxi.)
We read of something not unlike it set up by Joshua
near Shechem, in testimony of the covenant betwixt the
people and God, Josh. xxiv. 26. Now, therefore, who can
doubt but that Joshua was buried near Shechem? For when
that place was particularly bequeathed and set out by Jacob
for his son Joseph, who, of the whole stock and lineage of
Joseph, could justlier inherit that part of the country than
Joshua?
He was buried on the north side of the hill Gaash, in his
own ground. Might not that hill be also called Gilead,
upon the account of that pillar of witness that was_ built
there a little from Sychem? whence the foot of the hill, and
the hill itself beginning to rise (if it were northward, which
we suppose), then it might very well reach not far from that
place where this matter of Gideon was transacted. For,
whereas the field wherein the battle was, was within the
tribe of Manasseh, contiguous to mount Ephraim, and Gi-
deon proclaims that whosoever were afraid should depart from
mount Gilead; we can, perhaps, think of no more proper
sense wherein this mount Gilead can be taken, than that
that part of mount Ephraim was so called from the pillar of
testimony placed on the south side of it, when the common
name for it was the hill Gaash.
LIGHTFOOT, VOL. fT, x
}ONTENTS
CHOROGRAPHICAL NOTES.
CHAP. 1.
Or the places mentioned in Luke iii. 1. Some historical pas-
sages concerning the territories of Herod, and the tetrar-
chies of his sons. II. Whether Perea was not also called
Galilee. III. Some things in general concerning the country
beyond Jordan. IV. Trachonitis. V. Auranitis. VI. Iturea.
VII. Abilene. VIII. 2 Sam. xx. 18 discussed.
δι 1. Some historical passages concerning the territories
of WElerod, (Gc:..\-cacncmeseee ste an eee Page 293
δ. 2. Whether Perea may not also be called Galilee........ 295
§. 3. Some things in general concerning the country be-
youd Jordan .6...0c0; ts cneneassetye cee ....:...- 297
δ' 4; “Urachomttis cis cukataes.css εξ πος τον τ cae ae ee 299
δι. AMIPANTOIS © 250% soy.ide<sees oe veges nec see eele re ῃ 300
ΥΩ ὙΠ} ΠΡ ΠΥ ΡΥ ene tcematee siere ae: eee ee 302
8. Abilene FA heoctasace emia ence ese eee: πο... 305
CHAP. II.
Sarepta. I. Zarephath, Obadiah, ver. 20, where. II. Sepharad,
where. IIT. The situation of Sarepta.
§. 1.. Zarephath, Obad. ver. 20, where... .:..<.<:.«-.s:++:s==8 308
§. 2. Sepharad, where
ὃ, 4; The situation of Sarepta .<: 2..<..0.7<+.cs- copes: nee
CHAP. ΤΠ:
Nain, Luke νὴ. τι. I. Concerning Nain near Tabor, shewn
to strangers. II. Concerning Nain in Josephus and the
Rabbins. IIL. The Greek Version of o%32 py Lngannim.
δι 1. Concerning Nain near Tabor, shewn to strangers. ... 310
CONTENTS, &e. 323
§. 2. Concerning the Nain in Josephus and the Rabbins.. 312
Neda eel DITPEC ΠΤΠΙ alma eC HORE 3 Inet no eon A BAnOr pe inone ea eecr 313
CHAE. LY:
Emmaus: Luke xxiy. I. Several things about its name and
place. 11. Its situation. III. Some story of it. Also of
-Timnath and mount Gilead, Judg. vii. 3.
δ. τ. Several things about its name and place............... 314
S/o) Tis SIGUA OMe nos a ascurest νυ τς cots ne mrss anes cee 316
§. 3. Some story of it. Also of Timnath and mount Gi-
PCRs Oe ΨΗΣ Bi ss sae cae anit sere cen panko ees lane se 317
Α
CHOROGRAPHICAL INQUIRY
INTO
SOME PLACES OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL,
PARTICULARLY THOSE WHICH WE FIND MENTIONED
IN THE
EVANGELIST ST. JOHN.
Α
CHOROGRAPHICAL INQUIRY,
&e. &e.
CHAP. 1.8
Bethabara. John 1.
I. Different readings, Βηθανία and Βηθαμαρά. 11. The noted
passages over Jordan. 1171. The Scythopolitan country.
IV. Μέγα πεδίον: the great plain: the Scythopolitan passage
there. V. Beth-barah, Judg. vii. 24.
Secr. 1—Different readings, Βηθανία and BnOapapa.
IT is observed by all that treat upon this evangelist, that
the reading doth vary in some copies; and this instance is
alleged for one :
Tatra? ἐν Βηθαβαρᾷ ἐγένετο: ἐν ἄλλοις δὲ ἀντιγράφοις, ἐν
Βηθανίᾳ: “These things were done in Bethabara ; but in other
copies it is in Bethany.”
But Drusius; “The Vulgar Greek copies have it in
Bethabara, which Epiphanius, in the place above mentioned,
calls Bethamara. attra ἐν BnOupapa ἐγένετο ἐν ἄλλοις
δὲ ἀντιγράφοις, ἐν Βηθανίᾳ. Of this reading Petavius is
silent.”
It might easily happen that Bethabara should change
into Bethamara, partly, considering “ the affinity of the
characters, which, saith he, tanta est in antiqua Scriptura,
ut vix discerni possit μῦ a βῆτα, et contra,” “is so great in
ancient writings, that po and βῆτα can hardly be distin-
guished ;” partly, that the alternate use of 2 (Mem) and 3
(Beth) is so very common in those countries.
a [,eusden’s edition, vol. ii. p.575.—English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 491.
Ὁ Kpiphan. Heres. li.
328 Chorographical inquiry.
Nor’ indeed is it much wonder, that Bethamara should
change into Bethania, since Bethamara being writ PY.
MWY, signifies a place of wool; and Bethania, being writ
NM UNY MA, signifies a place of sheep.
But it seems very strange how Bethabara should ever
change into Bethany, unless upon some such oceasion as
these:
Either that Bethabara might be taken for the same with
MAM Ma, 1. 6. the house of exposition, or the school (in which
sense we meet with N72 and NM); whence for expli-
cation it is annexed, by some hand or other in the margin4,
SM MA the house of tradition, or doctrine: as if the evan-
gelist were to be understood in this manner; “ These things
were done or disputed in a certain school beyond Jordan,
where John was baptizing.” And so that word’ SN M12
being so very known and obnoxious, might steal from the
margin into the text and common use.
Or perhaps, secondly, upon the suspicion of a tautology, if
Bethabara and ἸΤέραν τοῦ ᾿Ιορδάνου should be found together,
(Gn om Pb erp mahi gpiak- because TIDY MI may be looked
upon as the same thing with “a place beyond Jordan: ”
therefore, they might substitute the word Bethany as sig-
nifying ‘ Batanea’ or ‘ Bashan’ to some such sense as this;
“These things were done in Batanea beyond Jordan,” &e.
But it is our province at present to inquire rather into the
situation of Bethabara, than into the original and deriva-
tion of Bethany.
Seer. 11.-- - 716 noted passages over Jordan.
Amone the various ways of writing Βηθαβαρὰ in Hebrew, |
these two especially deserve our consideration at present :
‘Beth-barah,’ which we meet with in Judg. vii., and Beth-
abara, or a place of passage, where they passed over Jordan.
They must both come under our inquiry, whiles we are seeking
the place in hand; and, first, of the latter.
Doubtless there was no part of Jordan but might be passed
by boat from one side to the other, as men’s different occa-
sions might call them; but we are now considering the public
© English folio edit. vol. ii. p. 492. d 9m 5 € Ih 5
The noted passages over Jordan. 329
and common passages that led over that river from one
country into another.
I. There is a bridge over Jordan‘, betwixt the lake of
Samochon and Gennesaret in the way that leadeth to Da-
mascus, which hath the name of “ Jacob’s bridge ;” of which
our countryman Biddulph, who hath himself travelled over it,
speaks to this purpose :
“ At the foot of this rocky mountain runs a pleasant
river called Jordan, which divideth Syria from Galilee. Over
this river is built a goodly bridge, which bears the name of
‘Jacob's bridge,’ upon this twofold account: 1. Because in
this place Jacob met with his brother Esau; 2. Because here
he wrestled with the angel.”
As to matter of fact, that there is and was such a bridge,
I do not much question; but for the reasons why it is so
called, as it is not much to our purpose to examine, so they
seem to have little else but conjecture in them.
IJ. Jordan also had a bridge over it at Chammath, near
Tiberias, at the very efflux of the river out of the sea of Gen-
nesaret; as we have elsewhere shewn from the Talmudic
authors, against the mistake of the tables, which place Ti-
berias at a great distance thence. ‘“ Tams Dominus Rex
quam Principes omnes, Tiberiadem usque perveniunt, ubi
circa pontem, unde ex mari Jordanis fluenta se dividunt,
castrametatur :” i. e. “ As well the lord the king, as all the
princes, come even unto Tiberias, and pitch their tents near
the bridge, where the streams of Jordan from the sea do
divide themselves.”
“ Juxtah Tiberiadem secus pontem, unde de lacu Genezar,
Jordanis fluenta se dividunt, cum exercitu sua castra locavit:”
i. 6. “ With his army he pitched his tents near Tiberias, by
the bridge, from whence the streams of Jordan, from the
lake of Gennesaret, do divide themselves.” Read this, and
view the situation of Tiberias in the tables, and correct the
mistake.
III. That was a most known and frequent passage from
Jericho, which we so often read of in the Holy Scriptures ;
f Leusden’s edit., vol. il. p. 576. & Gul. Tyr. de Bell. Sacr. 1. xvi. c. 8.
ἃ And lib. xviii. cap. 21.
330 Chorographical inquiry.
which yet seems rather to have been by boat than bridge.
See 2 Sam. xix. 18, and 2 Kings ii. 8.
Seer. II].—The Scythopolitan country.
Tuere was a fourth, and that the greatest, passage betwixt
Chammath and Jericho, but at a great distance from either;
for the finding out of which, we are to consider what is
intimated, 1 Kings iv.12: ‘* And all Beth-shean, which is
by Zartanah beneath Jezreel.” And again, 1 Kings vii. 46:
‘In the plain of Jordan did the king east them, in the clay-
ground, between Sueccoth and Zarthan.” We will begin with
Beth-shean.
I. Beth-shean‘, or Seythopolis, was in the lot of Manasseh,
Judg.i.27. Greek, Καὶ οὐκ ἐξῇρε Μανασσῇ τὴν Βαιθσὰν, ἢ
ἐστι Σκυθῶν πόλις" “ Neither did Manasses drive out the in-
habitants of Beth-shean, which is Seythopolis.” So that it
was within the limits of Samaria, though indeed one of the
Decapolitan cities, and within the jurisdiction of the Gentiles,
as we have shewed elsewhere.
II. It was the utmost bound of Samaria towards Galilee.
“'Thek bounds of Galilee on the south is Sayapis re καὶ Sxv-
θόπολις μέχρι τῶν ᾿Ιορδάνου ῥείθρων: Samaria and Seythopolis,
as far as the river Jordan.”
ΠῚ. The city was half a league’s distance from Jordan,
saith Borchard, and yet extends its jurisdiction beyond Jor-
dan. That of Althicus, in his Cosmography, is well known:
“The river Jordan hath its head in mount Libanus, runs
about the lake of Tiberias; from whence going out, hath its
eurrent through the midst of Seythopolis, and issues in the
Dead Sea.” Jordan divided Seythopolis in the midst; not
the city (for that was at some considerable distance from the
river), but the country itself; so that part of the country was
on this, and part on the other side Jordan.
It was a noble city of the Syro-Grecians, and had consi-
derable jurisdiction, not only within the confines of Manasses,
but extended itself beyond, even to Perea.
' English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 493.
« Joseph. de Bello, lib. iii. cap. 4. [iii. 3. 1.)
The Great Plain. 331
Secr. 1V.—Méya πεδίον: The great plain: the
Scythopolitan passage there.
Or this great plain, which took in the whole breadth of
the country of Manasseh from Jordan towards the west, a
very long way, Josephus frequently speaks. Describing the
situation and portion of Ephraim and Manasseh, he thus
expresseth himself:
‘H! δ᾽ ᾿Εφραΐμου φυλὴ τὴν ἄχρι Γαδάρων ἀπὸ ᾿Ιορδάνου πο-
ταμοῦ μηκυνομένην ἔλαχεν, εὐρείαν δὲ ὅσον ἀπὸ Βεθήλων εἰς τὸ
μέγα τελευτᾷ πεδίον: * The tribe of Kphraim extended itself
in length from the river Jordan to Gadara” (Gazarah, or
Gezer, Josh. xvi. 3, and xxi. 21]; ‘in breadth, from Bethel,
and ends at the Great Plain.”
Τῆς Mavaconridos of ἡμίσεις, ἕο. “ The half tribe of Ma-
nasseh extends itself in longitude from Jordan to the city
Dor. [dros δὲ ἐπὶ Βηθσάνων, ἣ viv Σκυθόπολις καλεῖται: But
in latitude [from Ephraim] it reacheth to Beth-shean, which is
now called Scythopolis.” So that that μέγα πεδίον, or ‘ great
plain, to those that were journeying from Galilee, began from
Beth-shean, and extended itself in latitude to the confines of
Ephraim. Hence that which we meet with in the same Jo-
sephus, Ἧκον ™ εἰς τὸ μέγα πεδίον, οὗ κεῖται κατὰ TO πρόσωπον
πόλις Βηθσάνη: “ They that passed over Jordan came into
the great plain, before which the city Bethsan lies ;” or as
it is in 1 Mace. v. 52, “ They went over Jordan into the
great plain before Beth-shean.”
In the Book of Judith, chap. i. 8, it is called τὸ μέγα πεδίον
᾿Εσδρηλώμ᾽ “The great plain of Esdrelom :” that is, in truth,
“the great valley of Jezreel.” So Jezreel, in the place above
quoted, 1 Kings iv. 12, by the Greek interpreters is rendered
’Ecpaé. Insomuch, that when it is said of Judah and his
army (for he it is whom this passage concerns), that in his
return from the land of Gilead he passed over Jordan into
this “ great plain,” and that (as it should seem) not very far
from Beth-shean ; it is evident that the great and common
passage over Jordan was hereabout", by which not only the
Scythopolitans went over from their country on this side
1 Antiq. lib.v. cap.1. [Hudson, m Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 12. [xii.8. 5. ]
Py 188: τ [ν ῦ τὸ 22. | n Leusden’s edition, vol. 11. p. 577.
332 Chorographical inquiry.
Jordan to that beyond, but those also of Samaria, and those
of the Lower Galilee, passed over here to Perea.
Here would I seek for Jacob’s Bridge, where he passed
over “ Jordan with his staff,’ when he went into Mesopo-
tamia, and returned back with a family ; and not where it is
commonly now shewn. At least, the mention of Suecoth,
Gen. xxxiii. 17, which had its situation on the bank of Jor-
dan, exactly opposite to Zartanah, a town near Beth-shean,
puts it out of all question that Jacob returned that way.
And, ‘indeed, whether Seythopolis might not derive something
of its appellation from the word Succoth ΞΘ: I cannot
well tell: methinks the name of ‘ Seythians’ hath some smack
of such a kind of original, Σκύθαι, quasi Σύκκοθαι: for they
always dwelt, and removed from one place to another, in
tents.
Sect. V.—Beth-barah, Judg. vii. 24.
Nerrner was this Beth-barah at any very great distance
from this passage. For so we have it, Judg. vii. 24: “ Gi-
deon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, say-
ing, Come down against the Midianites, and take before
them the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan.” And this
they did.
It° is hard to say whether Kimchi with more reason said,
that “ these waters were not the waters of Jordan ;” or Jar-
chi, more absurdly, that “ they divided Syria from Canaan.”
There were, no doubt, some waters in the valley of Jezreel :
for there the battle was,—at least, if that may be called a
battle, where there was not one sword unsheathed by the
conqueror. See Judg. vi. 33.—When the Midianites fled,
Gideon summons the Ephraimites by messengers, that they
would take those waters beforehand, which the routed enemy
in their flight must necessarily pass through before they
could arrive at the bridge or ferry over Jordan (spoken of
even now), that lay in their way home. When both armies
had pitched the field, the Midianites lay on the north, to-
wards Galilee, and the Gideonites on the south, near mount
Ephraim, chap. vii. 1. There was a river in the vale, (at
which waters, probably, Gideon distinguished betwixt his
followers, that lapped like a dog, and those that did not).
° English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 494.
Bath-barah. 333
This river at length discharged itself into J ordan, above the
bridge or passage that led into Perea. When, therefore,
the Midianites lay on the northern bank of this river, and
so were not capable of attaining the passage over Jordan,
till they had made through these waters first, it was the
Ephraimites’ care and business to maintain the opposite
bank, and that indeed all the whole space from the place
where the fight began, to Beth-barah and Jordan, that the
enemy might be blocked up from all possibility of escape or
retiring.
Whether, therefore, this passage, of which we have spoken,
was called Beth-barah from that place so near Jordan, or
May mn Beth-abara, from the etymology before mentioned,
it is no absurdity for the further bank of Jordan, which lay
contiguous to the bridge or passage over it, to be called
“ Beth-barah beyond Jordan,” either upon the one or the
other account. For (however the learned Beza comes to
question it) the Lexicons will tell you, that πέραν τοῦ ‘Topdarov
signifieth beyond Jordan: especially that common three-
fold division, pT Tay) Syn TT « Judea, Galilee, and
beyond Jordan.” ᾿Απ᾽ ἀνατολῶν ποταμοῦ ᾿Ιορδάνου" “On the
east of the river Jordan ;” as Ptolemy expresseth it: and
Beza himself confesseth, that trans Jordanem, beyond Jordan,
is the proper signification of the Greek word πέραν, beyond,
Matt. iv. 15.
Let us, therefore, place the Beth-abara we are seeking for,
where John was baptizing, on the further side of Jordan, in
the Seythopolitan country, where the Jews dwelt amongst
the Syro-Grecians, as in all the Decapolitan regions, where
Christ might something more safely converse, from the vex-
ations of the scribes and Pharisees, John x. 40, being, as it
were, out of their reach and jurisdiction there. And so we
find John baptizing, first, at the passage of Jericho, because,
through the greatness of the road, there was always a consi-
derable concourse of people; and next, at the passage of Scy-
thopolis, for the same reason.
Further, had I either leisure or will to play any longer
about the word Βηθανία, we might suppose it written M2
δ Ὁ Bethaania, which, in the Syriac idiom (amongst whom
it is no unusual thing to change W into y), agrees with M2
SINW Bethshaniah.
33+ Chorographical inquiry.
ΘΕΆ ΒΟ 7:
Nazareth, John i. 45.
|. A legend not much unlike that of the chapel of Loretto.
II. The situation of Nazareth. UI. W821 ja Ben Nezer.
LV. Certain horrid practices in OW AWD Capharnachum.
V. Some short remarks upon Cana. John ii. 2.
Seer, I.—A legend not much unlike that of the
Chapel of Loretto.
Forasmvucn as our evangelist makes only a transient men-
tion of Nazareth in this place, not relating any thing that our
Saviour did there, we sball take as transient notice of it at
this time; by the by, only inquiring into its situation, as what
we may have occasion to discourse more largely upon in an-
other place.
But P what, indeed, need we be very solicitous about the
situation of this town, when the place we would especially
look for there, that is, the house of the blessed Virgin, hath
taken its leave of Nazareth, and, by the conveyance of angels,
hath seated itself in Loretto in Italy. Of which thing,
amongst many others, cardinal Baronius4 gives us this grave
relation :
“That house wherein the most holy Virgin received the
heavenly message about the Word being made flesh, doth not
only by a wondrous miracle stand to this day entire; but,
by the ministry of angels, was retrieved from the hands of
infidels, and translated, first into Dalmatia, thence into Italy,
to Loretto in the province of Picenum.”
Let" us repay one legend with another.
“They 5 say of R. Chanina, saith he, seeing once his fellow-
citizens carrying their sacrifices to Jerusalem, crieth out:
‘ Alas! they every one are carrying their sacrifices, and for
my part I have nothing to earry; what shall I do? Straight-
way he betaketh himself into the wilderness of the city, and
finding a stone he cuts it, squares, and artificially formeth it ;
and saith, ‘ What would I give that this stone might be con-
veyed into Jerusalem!’ Away he goeth to hire some that
should do it; they ask him a hundred pieces of gold, and
P English folio edit., vol. il. p.495- ¥ Leusden’s edition, vol. il. p. 578.
4 Ad An. Dom. ix. 5. Midras Schir. fol. 2. 2.
The situation of Nazareth. 335
they would carry it. ‘ Alas! saith he, where should 1
have ἃ hundred pieces? indeed, where should [ have three Τ᾽
Immediately the holy blessed God procured five angels, in
the likeness of men, who offer him for five shillings to con-
vey the stone into Jerusalem, if himself would but give his
helping hand. He gave them a lift; and of a sudden they
all stood in Jerusalem; and when he would have given them
the reward they bargained jcr, his workmen were gone and
vanished. -This wonder he relates before the Sanhedrim, in
the conclave of Gazith. They say to him, ‘ Rabbi, it should
seem that these were angels that brought this stone : so he
gave the elders the money, for which the angels had bar-
gained with him.”
In truth, I should easilier incline to believe this story than
that of Loretto, because there is some reason to apprehend
this R.Chanina no other than Haninah Ben Dusa, a notorious
magician'. Unless you will also say, that the chapel at Lo-
retto took that jaunt by the help of magic.
A®* huge stone of its own accord takes a skip from the
land of Israel, and stops up the mouth of the den in Babylon,
where Daniel and the lions lay. But so much for tales.
Secr. 1!.—The situation of Nazareth.
Tue situation of Nazareth, according to Borchard, Brei-
denbach, and Saligniac, ought to be measured and deter-
mined from mount Thabor. For so they unanimously: “ A
Nazareth duabus leucis contra orientem est mons Thabor :”
“From Nazareth two leagues eastward is mount Thabor.”
Nor is there any cause why, with respect to that region of
Galilee in which they place this city, we should dissent from
them, seeing there are others of the same opinion. Now the
mount Tabor was in the very confines that divided Issachar
from Zebulun; Josh. xix. 22, “ And the coast [i.e. of Issa-
char] reacheth to Tabor and Shahazimah.” But what coast
should this be? north or south? The north coast, saith
Josephus * :—
Kal μετὰ τούτοις [the Manassites] ᾿Ισάχαρις, Κάρμηλόν τε
t Juchasin, fol. 57. 1. x Antiq. lib. v. cap. 1. [ Hudson,
ἃ In Bemidhar Rabba, fol. 257. Ρ. 188. 1. 17.] [v. 1. 22.]
990 Chorographical inquiry.
ὄρος καὶ τὸν ποταμὸν TOD μήκους ποιησαμένῃ Téppova, τὸ δ᾽ Ἶτα-
βύριον ὄρος τοῦ πλάτους" 1. 6. “ Next to Manasseh is Issachar,
having for its bounds of longitude mount Carmel and the
river [Jordan], and of latitude mount Tabor.” That is, the
latitude of Issachar is from Manasseh to mount Tabor, as
Josephus plainly makes out in that place. Mount Tabor,
therefore, lay as it were in the midst, betwixt the coasts of
Samaria and Upper Galilee: having on this side Issachar
towards Samaria, and on that side Zabulon towards the
aforesaid Galilee.
Josephusy describes mount Tabor, where these things
seem something obscure ; τὸ Ἰταβύριον ὄρος, 6 ἐστι τοῦ μεγάλου
πεδίου καὶ Σκυθοπόλεως μέσον. We have already seen where
Seythopolis lay ; and where the μέγα πεδίον, the great plain,
near Seythopolis. But what should that μέγα πεδίον, great
plain be, that heth so behind Tabor towards the north, that
Tabor should be betwixt it and Scythopolis? Is not Zabulon
so called in Josephus? yea, and Issachar too, at least a
great part of it, if we consult the same Josephus2. So that
the μέγα πεδίον of Seythopolis or Manasseh, is distinetly
ealled by him μέγα πεδίον Σαμαρείτιδος, “ the great plain of
Samaria ἃ.
And the Lower Galilee is described by the Talmudists
by this character, “That it produceth sycamines, which the
Upper Galilee doth not.” Now the sycamine trees were ἐν
τῇ πεδινῇ, tn the vale, 1 Kings x. 27. And hence seems to
arise the distinction between * the Upper and the Lower Ga-
lilee ; the Lower so called because more plain and champaign,
the Upper because more hilly and mountainous.
I am deceived if the Upper Galilee be not sometimes by
way of emphasis called ‘ Galilee : nor without cause, when as
the Lower might be called μέγα πεδίον, or the great plain.
So Cana had the adjunct of ‘Cana of Galilee,’ perhaps that
it might distinguish that Cana which bounds both the Gali-
lees; of which more in its proper place. That passage which
we meet with in our evangelist, chap. iv. 43, 44, ‘“ He de-
parted from thence [from Samaria] and went into Galilee;
Y De Bell. lib. iv. cap. 6. [Hud- a Tbid. lib. ii. cap. 21. [ii. 12. 3.]
son, p. 1163.] [iv. 1. 8.] Ὁ Sheviith, cap. 9. hal. 2.
2 Lib. 111. cap. 4. [ii. 3. 1.] © English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 496.
Ben Nezer. 3347
for Jesus himself testified that a prophet hath no honour in
his country :” it looks this way; that is, he would not go
into Nazareth, but into Galilee, viz. the Upper; and so came
to Cana.
Nazareth, therefore, was in the Lower Galilee, in the very
confines of Issachar and Zabulon, and is commonly received
within Zabulon, itself being distant sixteen miles or more
from Capernaum; for from Capernaum, mount Tabor is dis-
tant ten miles; or thereabouts.
Secr. IIl.— xy) ja Ben Nezer.
I am not abundantly satisfied with the common writing of the
word ‘ Nazareth,’ by W283; much less that ‘ Nazarenus’ should
be expressed by 253, i. 6. Nwgapaios, when the sacred Ama-
nuenses write it Ναζωραῖος. But I can hardly suppress a
just indignation, when I read what the Jews scribble about
3 ja Ben Nezer.
“ Thee Rabbins have a tradition: Those that are taken out
of the kingdom, behold they are properly captives; but
those that are taken by thieves, they are not to be called
captives.”
“The tradition is to be distinguished. mobax moda
NW) n> As to kingdom and kingdom, there is no4@ diffi-
culty :” that is, as to kingdoms, which are equal. ‘ But
between the kingdom of Ahasuerus, and the kingdom of Ben
Nezer, there is. Between thieves and thieves there is no dif-
ficulty ; but between Ben Nezer and ποῦν ood the
thieves of the world viz. common thieves, there is. There [in
Palestine] Ben Nezer is called a king: here [in Babylon] he 7s
called a robber, “ono aie) p- Gloss: ‘ Ben Nezer
was a thief, and took cities, and ruled over them; and became
the captain of robbers.”
It is very suspicious to what purpose they have invented
that name for the most infamous robber, to call him the “ son
of Nezer.” By those very letters 2) they write the city
‘ Nazareth. Read on, and the suspicion will increase.
“6 Te considered the horns; and behold, there came up
© Chetubh. fol. 51. 2. d [Leusden’s edition, vol. 11. p. 579.
€ Beresh. Rabb. sect. 76.
LIGHTFOOT, VOL. 1. 7
338 Chorographical inquiry.
among them another little,horn (Dan. vii. 8], 22 13 πὶ Thi
is Ben Nezer.” Aruch quoteth this passage under the word
ΤΡ in this manner: “ There came up among them another
little horn: OMMID ΓΘ ἽΣ This is the kingdom of the
Cuthites. Now what they meant by the kingdom of the
Cuthites, may be conjectured from ‘“ The! winter is past
(Cant. ii. 13]; OVID ΓΟ This is the kingdom of the
Cuthites.” And a little after: “ The time is coming when
the kingdom of Cuth shall be destroyed, and the kingdom of
heaven shall be revealed.”
It is easy imagining what they would point at by the
kingdom of the Cuthites; the Christians no doubt (unless
they will pretend to some Samaritan kingdom): and if so,
it is as obvious whom they design by “ Ben Nezer.” Let
them shew whence came the name of the tetrarchy of the
Nazarenes in Coelosyria; of which Pliny’; ‘ Coelosyria habet
Apamiam Marsya amne divisam. A Nazerinorum tetrarchia
Bambycen, quee alio nomine ‘ Hierapolis’ vocatur, Syris vero
‘Magog.’”
Secr. 1V.—Certain horrid practices in DWI ADS
Capharnachum.
Havine spoken of Nazareth, it will not be amiss to make
some mention of Capernaum, which, however distant many
miles, yet was it the place where our Saviour dwelt, as Na-
zareth was his native soil. We have considered its situation
in another treatise, being in the country of Gennesaret, a
little distance from Tiberias. ‘There 1s another Capernaum
mentioned by Gulielmus Tyrius*, that lay upon the coast of
the Mediterranean, as this did upon the coast of Gennesaret :
“Τῃ loco quee dicitur Petra Incisa, juxta antiquam Tyrum,
inter Capharnaum et Doram, oppida maritima :” ‘“ In a place
called Petra Incisa, near old Tyre, betwixt Capernaum and
Dor, two sea-coast towns.”
It is uncertain whether the name be derived from ΤΣ or
from OW: the former denotes pleasantness ; the latter,
comfort. And though our Capernaum might justly enough
f Midras Schir. fol. 17. 2. & Lib. v. cap. 23.
h Lib. x. cap. 26.
Certain horrid practices in Capharnachum. 339
take its name from the pleasantness of its situation, according
to the description that Josephus: giveth of it*; yet the
oriental interpreters write it the latter way. The Rabbins
also mention such a town, written in the same letters ἜΞΩ
Ow; of which, perhaps, it will not be tedious to the reader
to take this story :
** Chanina!, R. Joshua’s brother’s son, went into SW WS
Capernaum, ΤΥ WIND ms Fy) and the heretics” (or
magicians, for the word signifies either) “enchanted him.
They brought him into the city sitting upon an ass ;” on the
sabbath-day, which was forbidden by their law. “ He went
to his uncle R. Joshua, SONS NMWD PSy aM who be-
smeared him with a certain ointment, and he was recovered.”
It should seem that, by some kind of enchantments, they had
thrown him into a delirium so far, that he had forgot both
himself and the sabbath-day. There is another story imme-
diately follows that :
“A certain disciple of R. Jonathan’s flies over to these
heretics” [that himself might be entered amongst them, and
become one too]. “ Jonathan finds him out employed in cas-
trating birds and beasts. They sent to him” [Jonathan], “ and
said, It is written, Cast in thy lot amongst us, and let us all
have one purse. He fled; and they followed him, saying,
Rabbi, come and give us a east of thy office towards a young
bird. He returned, and found them NAT SAAD OYWOY
committing adultery with a woman. He asked them, WMS 12
PIAy wT Ls ἐξ the manner of the Jews to do such things as
these ? They answer, ‘Is it not written in the law, Cast in
thy lot amongst us, and let us all have one purse?’ He fled,
and they pursued him to his own house, and then he shut the
doors against them. They call to him and say, “Ὁ Rabbi
Jonathan, go, and rejoicing tell thy mother, that thou didst
not so much as look back towards us; for if thou hadst
looked back, thou hadst then followed us as vehemently as we
have now followed thee.’”
While I read these things, I cannot but call to mind the
Nicolaitans, and such who indulged to themselves a liberty
of all obscene filthiness; nor is what we have related un-
i English folio edit., vol.ii. p.497. ΚΕ Lib. de Bell. iii. cap. 35. [iii. το. 8.1
1 Midras Coheleth, fol. 85. 2.
Z 2
340 Chorographical inquiry.
worthy our observation with respect to heresies of this kind.
Should this Capernaum be the same (as probably it is) with
that Capernaum which we meet with so frequently in the
evangelists, it is something observable what is said of it,
* Thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be
brought down to hell.”
Seer. V.—Some short remarks upon Cana, John ii. 2.
Ir is very disputable which should be the first letter of the
word Cana, whether [3] Caph or [ΡῚ Koph, for we find both.
I. τὸ Hanah, with the initial letter Koph [72], is a city in
the tribe of Asher, Josh. xix. 28; where the Greek for Hanah,
have Κανθάν: and MS. Alex. Kana.
II. 9} Kene, a word not very much differing in the sound,
occurs amongst the Talmudists !, 9397 by ἼΣΩΣ et maa
ὙΠ ΓΙ ἢ“ Rabbi and his Sanhedrim, having numbered
votes, pronounced Keni, clean.”’— Gloss: ‘* Keni was a place
of doubtful esteem, reckoned amongst the unclean” [that is,
a place of the Gentiles]; “ but in the days of R. Judah Hac-
eodesh, it came under trial, and they pronounced it clean.”
Ill. We find Kava κώμη in Josephus, but the situation
not mentioned: Antiochus" being slain” [ viz. when he fought
with the Arabian king], τὸ στράτευμα φεύγει εἰς Kava κώμην,
“his army fled to the town Kana.” This is hardly our Cana,
as may in some measure appear in Josephus’s context.
IV. But further he speaks in ‘ His Own Life®,’ of κώμη τῆς
Γαλιλαίας ἣ προσαγορεύεται Kava: “ Cana in Galilee.” As for
its situation, as far as can be collected from Josephus, we
discuss that in another treatise, and shew that it is not far
from that place where the river Jordan dischargeth itself
into the sea of Gennesaret ; so that between this Cana and
Capernaum, there seems to be almost the whole length of
that sea.
V. But it must not be forgotten that M25 Canah, begin-
ning with the letter Caph, is met with in JuchasinP; the
words these : odsnpn Ms VD wrt “In the end of the chap-
”
ter” [it is the seventh chapter of Bavah Mezia} “ there is a
! In Ohaloth, cap. 18. hal. ult. son, ἢ: 599. 1.8.] [xiii. 15. 1. ]
m Leusden’s edition,vol. ii. p. 580. ° [c. 16.]
n Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 23. [Hud- P Fol. 57. 2.
~
Enon near Salem. 34)
tradition. Abba Chalaphtha of Caphar Hananiah, in the
name of R. Meir, saith,” [they are in Bavah Mezia, where he
is brought in, and what he said4], VD NTT MIT ADHD 2 655
ΓΊΩΣ “It seems to me” (they are the words of the author of
Juchasin) “ that Caphar Hananiah is Caphar Cana; as may
be proved out of the ninth chapter of the book Sheviith: for
there was the entrance of the Lower Galilee.”
From that place, quoted in Sheviith, which is Hal. 2, it
plainly appears that Caphar Hananiah was in the very out-
most border that divided the Upper and the Lower Galilee.
From whence it is evident, that the entranee of the Lower
Galilee, according to our author, was not as we go from
Samaria to Galilee, but from the Upper Galilee into the
Lower. And whether our Cana of Galilee be so called to
distinguish it from that Cana that so divides between the
two Galilees, or from that Cana that was in the tribe of Asher
(which may not unfitly be called ‘ Cana of the Sidonians’), it
is at the reader's choice to determine’. As also, why the
Syriac interpreter should in this place write $3144) Aatna, in-
stead of ‘Cana.’ Whether he had in his eye or mind Mop
Kattath, Josh. xix. 15, which, in the vulgar dialect, was called
Κατανὰθ, Katanath, as the Seventy render it, and the Jeru-
salem ‘Talmudists affirms; or whether by a diminutive kind
of word $8362 Hatanah, he would intimate the smallness of
the town: q.d. “ Cana the Less.”
OHA. 11.
Αἰνὼν ἐγγὺς τοῦ Σαλεὶμ. ““ Anon near Salim,”
John iii. 23.
I. Certain names and places of near sound with Σαλεὶμ, Salim.
IL ποὺ a ‘ Salmean, or a “ Salamean,’ used amongst the
Targumists instead of *)) ὦ “ Kenite” [1]. Αἰνὼν, *4inon,’
an the Greek interpreters, Josh. xv. 61. IV. The Syriac
remarked ; and a passage of Hustathius upon Dionysius.
V. Herodium, a palace. V1. Macherus, a castle. VII. 97
yw The hill Mizar, Psalm xlii.6. VIL στρ day
‘ Eglath Shelishijah, Isa. xv. 5.
4 Fol. 94. 1. τ English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 498.
5. Megill. fol. 70. 1.
9242 Choroaraphical inquiry.
Serer. L—Certain names and places of near sound
with Σαλεὶμ, *‘ Salim,
Ler us begin with Σαλεὶμ, Salim, and thence look after its
neighbour ‘Anon.’ We may be a little helped in our inquiry
by that passage in Genesis xxxili. 18: VY bw Spy? 813")
Dw «And came to Shalem, a city of Syehem.” There are
some versions, and the authors of the tables, have upon these
words built I know not what city Salem near Sychem. But
neither the Jews nor Samaritans acknowledge any such thing.
For the Jews render it. and that not without reason, “ And
Jacob came safe into the city of Shechem.” The't Samaritan
text hath DI, instead of OSw “ he came in peace :” and
certainly there is no part of mankind could be more likely to
judge than the Samaritans, whether ow, in that place, were
the name of any city, yea or no. ἡ
IT. Σαλεὶμ, Salim, in the Greek interpreter, according to the
Roman copy is the name of a place, Josh. xix. 22; where the
Hebrew runs thus, WO) MD Town Wana baa yy
«And the coast [of Issachar' reacheth to Tabor, and Shaha-
zimah, and Beth-shemesh.” But the Greek, Καὶ συνάψει τὰ
ὅρια ἐπὶ Γαιθβὼρ, καὶ ἐπὶ Σαλὶμ κατὰ θάλασσαν, καὶ Βαιθσα-
μώς: “And the confines touched upon Gethbor, and upon
Salim near the sea, and Bethsamosh.”
The Masorets observe that Shahazimah, which is written
with a Vau [Ἴ]. should be written by a Jod [5]; which also
these interpreters acknowledge (which is worthy our taking
notice of); but then they divide the word into two parts, and
write it 7 YM i. e. Shahaz, κατὰ θάλασσαν, Shahaz at the
sea: but why they should turn Shahaz into Salim, it 1s some-
thing difficult to guess.
It seems probable that Σελάμη, Selame, which Josephus ",
in the account of his own life, makes mention of, as fortified
by himself, amongst other towns in Galilee, is the same with
this Sadlp, Salim, mentioned by the Seventy; and that the
rather, because there it is reckoned up with mount Tabor.
IIT. Σααλεὶμ, Saalim, in the Alexandrian copy, answers to
t Onkelos, Jonathan, Bereshith Rabba, sect. 79. Schab. fol. 33, 2, ὅς.
u [e. 37. Σελαμίς, Hudson. ]
Salmeans, or Kenites. 343
the Hebrew νὼ Shaalim, 1 Sam. ix. 4. In the Complut.
Σαλλὶμ, Salhm ; in the Roman Σεγαλὶμ, Segalim ; where the
Targum, instead of τυ YUNA in the land of Shalishah,
hath NOT YIN. in the a of the south: and instead of
odyu) Kale! in the land of Saalim, it hath SVN YUS3a
im the land of Methbara. But why both here and also 2 Kings
iv. 42, they should render τοῦ bya Baal-shalisha* by
ΝΟΥ PAS the land of the ull we find some kind of reason
in the Gemarists, who upon this place have this note :
“ Therey was no country throughout the whole land of Israel
where the fruits of the earth were so forward as in Baal-Sha-
lisha.” Now such a country they call Myo nan’? Aw
southern fields; or literally, made south; “because the sun
both riseth and sets upon them.” But why they should render
ον ΤΣ the land of Saalim, SIND ΤῊΝ the land of
Methbara® is something more unintelligible, unless it should
be with some respect to mount Tabor, which we find men-
tioned in the following chapter, ver. 3; and so δ ΣΙ Meth-
bara, should be “ the plain of Tabor.”
If now the reader can pitch upon any of these places we
have already named, or any other he may have met with in
his reading, as that which our evangelist here meaneth, let
him consider whether the article τοῦ may properly be prefixed
to it, when as the names of all cities and towns are of the
feminine gender generally, and yet St. John hath it τοῦ
Σαλείμ: which gives some ground of conjecture that the pas-
sage is to be understood not of any town or city, but of some
other matter ; which, by way of exercitation, it may not be
amiss a little to enlarge upon.
Seor. 11.- Ὁ ῬῺῸ a‘ Salmean’ or α “ Sa lamean,’ used
amongst the Targumists instead of 7) a “ Kenite.’
Every one that hath but dipped into the Chaldee para-
phrasts, must know that the “ Kenites’ are called by them
MN 20 ‘Salmeans,’ or ‘Salameans.’ So Onkelos, Gen. xv. 19,
Numb. xxiv. 21, 22. So Jonathan, Judg. i. 16; iv. 2; v.24;
1 Sam. xv. 6; xxvil. 10. It is likewise observable, that
x Leusden’s edition, vol.ii. p. 581. 2 In Menachoth, fol. 85. 1.
y Sanhedr. fol. 12. 1. 5. English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 499.
944 Chorographical inquiry.
ΓΖ the " Maachathites’ are by them called DWP DN the
‘Epikerites,’ Deut. iil. 14; Josh. xiii. 13. And this, probably,
from the place or country where the Maachathites of old
dwelt, which, in the time of the Targumists, was called
᾿Επίκαιρος, ἀπ᾿ ἀνατολῶν ποταμοῦ ᾿Ιορδάνου, “ Epiceerus on
the east of the fiver Jordan,” deg. 67.31.04. Whether in-
deed the situation doth fall out right, I shall not at present
discourse.
But the ‘ Kenite’ is not termed a ‘ Salmean’ from any place
or country where he dwelt. For the Kenites in the southern
part of Judea are called ‘ Salameans,’ Judg. i.[16.] So also
Heber the Kenite in Galilee, Judg. iv.[11.] And there were
Kenites amongst the Amalekites, 1 Sam. xv. [6]; and there
were of the Kenites beyond Jordan, Gen. xv. [19]: whence
so called is not to our purpose. It_sufficeth, that they were
vulgarly known by the name of TNO TW Salame ; which, how
near akin it is to Σαλεὶμ, Salim, let the unbiassed reader
judge. Who knoweth, therefore, but the evangelist should
mean thus; “John was baptizing in Anon, near the Sala-
mean, ‘or Kenite;’”’ giving that name to that people, which,
at that time, they were commonly called by? But supposing
this should be granted us, what Kenite should we understand
here? either those that were in the wilderness of Judah, or
those on the other side of the salt sea ?
Sror. {ΠΠ.---Οἰνὼν in the Greek Interpreter,
Joshua xv. 62.
ΤῈ the * Kssene’ might be called =synby Salmean, as well
as Kenite (and certainly he seems to have as much claim to
it, if the word denote perfection, or austerity of life), then
I could more confidently place our Σαλεὶμ, Salim, in the wil-
derness of Judah; because there I find “που mentioned in
the Greek version, Josh. xv. 61, 62: where the Hebrew hath
it thus: ‘ In the wilderness, Beth-araba, Middin, and Seca-
eah, and Nishban, and the city of Salt, and En-gedi, six
cities:” but the Greek, καὶ Baddapyels, καὶ Θαραβαὰμ, καὶ
Αἰνὼν, &e. “ And Baddargis, and Tharabaam, and dZnon.”
&e. Where it is plain that Αἰνὼν, Anon, is put for Middin;
but why it should be so, is more difficult to tell. This only
a Ptol. Tab. Asiz 4.
LENO. 345
we may remark, that the word Middin occurs Judges v. 10:
pqs by "aw which if I should render, “ye that dwell by
Middin,” I should have Kimchi to warrant me, who, in his
notes upon this place, tells us, that “ Middin is the name of
a city mentioned in Joshua, Middin and Secacah.” But now,
when Aivov, Anon, signifies a place of springs or waters,
see what follows; DYANWOD PD OMI on “from the
noise of archers among the places of drawing waters.” The
Greek is ἀνὰ μέσον ὑδρευομένων, “ Among those that draw
water.” So that if you ask the Greek interpreter why he
should render Middin by Aivav, AZnon, a place of springs,
he will tell you, because MWiddin was a place ὑδρευομένων, “ of
those that draw waters.”
The Essenes succeeded the Kenites in their dwelling in
the wilderness of Judah»: and not only so, but in strictness
and austerity of life, as Josephus and others assure us. Now
if we will but allow the ‘ Essenes’ to be called aby Sal-
means, as the Kenites were, then the words of the evangelist
might bear such sense as this ;—“ John was baptizing in
7Enon near the Essenes.”. And it may be supposed, that as
the Baptist had already conversed with two of the Jewish
sects, the Pharisees and Sadducees, and had baptized some
of each, so he would now apply himself to a third sect
amongst them, viz. the Essenes, and baptize some of them
too. But herein I will not be positive.
Secr. 1V.—The Syriac remarked. And Eustathius
upon Dionysius.
Wuusr we are treating upon the word Αἰνὼν, dinon, I
cannot but observe that the word is divided both in the
Syriac and Arabic version: Syriac, 170 Py “ In the fountain
Jon :” Arabic ser In the fountain Nun.” The
words of the evangelist seem to discover the signification of
the name.
"Or. ὕδατα πολλὰ ἣν ἐκεῖ, “ Because there was much water
there.” For we could not have rendered the word more
significantly, than a place of springs, or a watery place. So
Nonnus ;
Ὕγδατι βαπτίζων βαθυκύμονος ἔγγυθι Σαλήμ.
Baptizing near the waters of deep-waved Salem.
> Plin, lib. v. cap. 17. Solin, cap. 38. © English folio edit., vol.il. p. 500.
940 - Chorographical inquiry.
Why 4, therefore, did those interpreters take the word in
two, when it was plain and etymological enough of itself ?
The Syriae Jon brings to mind a passage of Eustathius
upon this verse of Dionysius :
“Hy re καὶ ᾿Ιονίην περιναίεται, ηὐδάξαντο.
“‘Some say, saith he, that that whole sea from Gaza as
far as Egypt, is called the Lonian sea, from lo.” Kat τὴν
ἐκεῖ δὲ Γάζαν ᾿Ἰόνην καλοῦσί tives’ ἔνθα Bods ἣν ἐν ἀγάλματι
τῆς ᾿Ιοῦς, ἤτοι τῆς Σελήνης" “ Indeed, some call even Gaza
itself Jone, where there is a heifer in the image of Io, or the
moon.”
That Gaza was ever called Jone, is not commonly known;
but grant it was, and the sea, from that place even as far as
Egypt, to have been called the Ionian sea; yet should not 1
have derived its name from ‘ Jo,’ but rather from the ‘ Lones,’
those brassy robust men, of whose coming into Egypt, and
fixing their seats there by the sea, Herodotus® gives us a
famous relation.
But must we seek for ΡΣ ein Jon (or Javan, as some
would have it) hereabout? To seek John about Gaza, would
be to seek him out of the land of Israel; at least, as the
bounds of that land were at that time determined.
Sect. V.—Herodium, a palace.
Ir AZnon was the place where John baptized last, imme-
diately before his imprisonment, then we must look for it
either in Galilee or Perea: for in one of those places it was
where he began his acquaintance with Herod. For however
St. Luke, speaking of Herod, mentions Galilee only within
his tetrarchy, Luke iii. 1, yet Josephus tells us‘, that ’Eye-
veto ὑπὸ τούτῳ [᾿Αντίπᾳ] ἥ τε Περαία καὶ Γαλιλαία, “ both
Perea and Galilee were under his jurisdiction.” Where
then shall we begin his first acquaintance with the Baptist ?
T had once inclination to have fixed it in Galilee; but whilst
I consider better that Herodium was in Perea, and very
near Macheerus, John’s prison, that seems the more probable.
Josephus 8, speaking of Herod the Great and his stately
buildings, hath this amongst other things: Φρούριον ἐπιτει-
xloas τῷ πρὸς ᾿Αραβίαν ὄρει προσηγόρευσεν “Hpddiov ἀφ᾽ ἑαυ-
4 Leusden’s edition, νο ]. ii. p. 582. f De Bell. lib. ii. cap. 9. [ii. 6. 3.]
e Euterpe, [ii.] cap. 152, 154. & [De Bell. i. 21. 2
Macherus, a castle. 347
τοῦ. “He fortified a castle upon a hill towards Arabia, and
called it Herodium, after himself.” Where, by Arabia,
you are to understand the land of Moab; and he seemed
to have fortified that castle, as a bulwark against the Moab-
itish Arabs.
The same Herod that built it is buried there, as the same
Josephus tells ush; where, describing the funeral pomp, he
gives this account: Πεντακόσιοι δὲ ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῖς τῶν οἰκετῶν καὶ
ἀπελευθέρων ἀρωματοφόροι, “ After those followed five hundred
of his own domestic servants, bearing spices. Σταδίους δὲ
ἐκομίσθη TO σῶμα διακοσίους εἰς «Ηρώδιον, ὅπου κατὰ τὰς ἐντολὰς
ἐτάφη: His body was brought two hundred furlongs” (from
Jericho where he died] to Herodiwm, where, according to
his own appointment, he was interred. But, in Antiq. lib.
xvii. cap. 101, Ἤιεσαν δὲ ἐπὶ “Hpwdiov στάδια ὀκτώ: “ They
came to Herodium eight furlongs ; for there he had ordered
his funeral solemnities.” At first sight, here is an appearance
of a slip in history: but it is to be understood, that from
Jericho to Herodium it was two hundred furlongs, that is,
twenty-five miles ; but Herod’s burying-place was eight fur-
longs from Herodium, a common distance for burying-places
to be from cities.
Sect. VI.k—Macherus, a castle.
Josrpuus! tells us, that John Baptist was imprisoned by
Herod in the castle of Machzerus: Καὶ ὁ μὲν, ὑποψίᾳ τῇ Ηρώ-
δου, δέσμιος εἰς THY Μαχαιροῦντα πεμφθεὶς, &e. ‘ He [the Bap-
tist], upon Herod’s suspicion, is sent prisoner to Macherus.”
A little before that he had told us, μεθόριον δέ ἐστι τῆς τε
’Apéra, καὶ Ἡρώδου ἀρχῆς" This place “ is the frontier betwixt
the kingdom of Aretas [the Arabian king] and Herod.”
Of the situation of the place, Pliny™ hath this hint;
“ Prospicit [Asphaltitin] ab oriente Arabia Nomadum [ Moab-
itis]: a meridie Macherus, secunda quondam Arx Jude
ab Hierosolymis.”” The meaning of which is this; ‘“ that
Arabia of the Nomades [or Moab], situated on the east of
h [De Bell. i. 33. 9.] Hudson, k English folio edit., vol. ii. p.501-
p. 1043. 1.14. 1 Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. 7. | Hud-
i Hudson, p. 771. 1. 32. [xvii. son, p. 805.] [xviil. 5. 2. ]
8.3: ] m Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 16.
948 Chorographical inquiry.
Asphaltites, fronts it on the west, and Macherus situated on
the north, fronts it on the south;” otherwise, you would
remove Machzerus a great way from its proper situation.
We meet with it in the Talmudists under the name of
Maevar.
“The mountainous country of Perea was the hill Maevar
and Gedor.” The Jerusalem Targum®, and Jonathan upon
Numb, xxxii. 35, instead of ‘ Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer,”
have WI. NM yw sndbs. n> « Maclelta of Shophan
and Maevar:” to which Jonathan adds SMO YI
‘* Maevar of Garamatha.”
It is obvious enough how they came to render NOY
Atroth by smbbary Maclelta, (as also Onkelos hath done) ;
viz. because they translated the Hebrew word, which denotes
a crown, by the Chaldee word, which is of the same signifi-
cation. But why Jaazer by WWD Macvar ? Onkelos upon
the third verse of the same chapter, renders ‘ Jaazer’ and
‘ Nimrah’ by eaten) repeal pwn, which I should translate,
“the Atrati or denigrati of the house of Nimrin.” And Pto-
lemy comments thus in Arabia Petreea: Διατείνει δὲ ἐν τῇ
χώρᾳ τὰ καλούμενα μέλανα ὄρη, &e. There are all along
that country certain mountains called the Black Mountains,
namely, from the bay which is near Pharan, to Judea.” But
whether 22 Macrar hath any relation with blackness from®
15 a dish or furnace, I leave it to others to inquire.
So that we see Herodium and Macheerus are situated on
the outermost coast of Perea towards the south, or the land
of Moab, near the shore of Asphaltites, or the Dead sea.
The nature of the place we have described by Josephus,
“Péovor δὲ καὶ θερμῶν ὑδάτων πηγαὶ κατὰ τὸν τόπον», &e.
‘** There spring out, near this place, certain fountains of hot
waters, of a very different taste, some bitter some sweet;
there are also many springs of cold waters,” &e. Compare
the bitter waters with the waters of Nimrin, Isa. xv. 6, and
the other with those of Dimon, ver. 9; where, query whether
Dimon be not the same with Dibon {Beth (2) and Mem (2)
being alternately used]; that by that pronunciation it might
” Hierosol. Sheviith, fol. 38.4. 00 Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 583.
P Dé Bell. lib. vii. cap. 21. [vii. 6. 3.]
|
|
The hill Mizaar. 349
agree more with D7 blood; O7 avon ΠῚ 2 «The waters
of Dimon are full of blood.”
Whilst we are in this watery country, are we not got
amongst the rivers of Arnon? The learned Beza commenting
upon those words of St. John iii. 23, ὅτι ὕδατα πολλὰ ἣν ἐκεῖ,
“for there was much water there,” affirms it, commenting
thus: ‘“ Multi videlicet rivi, quorum etiam in eo tractu cirea
Aroer fit mentio in libris Mosis;” “ namely, many rivers, of
which also in that tract about Aroer there is mention in the
books of Moses.” And the situation of the place confirms it;
when as Macheerus was the very utmost bounds of the ‘ land
of Israel’ towards Moab, according to Josephus, as also was
Arnon according to Moses.
But here we find no place that is called either non or
Salim. True, indeed; but the place, for the very wateriness
of it, deserves to be called “που, that is, a place of
springs; and if Sahm may be the same with Salamean,
here we have also the Kenite or Salamean, Gen. xv. [1g.] and
Numb. xxiv. [22.] However, in a thing so very obscure, it is
safest not to be positive; and the reader’s candour is begged
in this modest way of conjecturing. The way we tread is
unbeaten, and deserves a guide, which as yet we have not
obtained.
Sect. VII.—The hill Mizaar, ΣΝ VJ Psalm xhi. 6.
Ler us now (however something beyond our bounds) pass
from the first entering of the coasts of Moab towards the
north, to the utmost limits of it southward.
‘“T will remember thee (saith the Psalmist) from the land
of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, ἜΣ ἜΤ from the hill
Mizar.” Where is this hill Mizar? not to take any
notice of what we meet with in Borchard and others, con-
cerning Hermon near Thabor (by what authority I cannot
tell), as also that YS WI the hill Mizaar, is rendered
almost by all, a little hill; or, in a word, that the Targumist
and Τὺ. Solomon tell us, it is mount Sinai; Apollinarius,
that it is mount Hermon: it seems plainly to be the “ hilly
part of Zoar,’ whither Lot would have fled, if the straitness
of time might have permitted him, Gen. xix. 20; “Ὁ let me
4 English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 502.
350 Choroqraphical inquiry.
escape to this city; NWI VW23 xbn is it not Mizar, or a
little one?” so that VWs WI the hill Mizar may be the
same, as if it had been said Wd Wy Wi the hilly part of the
little city Zoar.
The reasons of the conjecture, besides the agreeableness of
the name, may be especially these two :
I. As Hermonium, or Hermon, was near the springs of
Jordan, so the hiliy part of Zoar lay hard by the extreme
parts of Jordan in Asphaltites; and the Psalmist, speaking
of the land of Jordan, or of the land on the other side of
Jordan, seems to measure out all Jordan from one end to the
other, from the very spring-head to the furthermost part
where the stream ends.
II. As David betook himself to the country on the other
side of Jordan towards Hermon, in his flight from his son
Absalom, so was it with him, when flying from Saul he
betook himself to Zoar in the land of Moab, 1 Sam. xxii. 3.
And so bewails his deplorable condition so much the more
bitterly, that both those times he was banished to the very
utmost countries, north and south, that the river Jordan
washed.
Sect. VIII. - rund) nox? ) Eglath Shelishijah,
Isa. xv. ἘΝ
Wiru the mention οἵ Zoar is this clause subjoined in
Isaiah, mobs nb Eglath Shelishijah, or “a heifer of
three years old.” So with the mention of Zoar and Horo-
naim, the same clause is also subjoined in Jeremiah.
Isa. xv. 5: sputdy} ΓΞ WILT TMA “ His fugitives
unto Zoar, a heifer of three years old.”
Greek ; "Ev αὐτῇ ἕως Σεγώρ. Δάμαλις γάρ ἐστι τριετής. “ In
it unto Segor. For it is a heifer of three years.”
Vulgar; “ Vectes ejus usque ad Segor: vitulam conter-
nantem.” “Its bars were unto Segor: a heifer in his third
year.”
Targum; “ Ut fugiant usque ad Zoar, vitulam trimam
magnam :” “ That they should fly as far as Zoar, a great
heifer of three years old.”
English; “ His fugitives shall flee unto Zoar: a heifer of
three years old.”
Liglath Shelishijah. 351
Jer. xlviii. 34: moans nb ἊΣ OAM Ty wid “ from
Zoar to Horonaim, a heifer of three years old.”
Vulgar; ‘‘ A Segor usque ad Horonaim, vitulé conter-
nante :” ‘ From Segor unto Horonaim, the heifer being in
her third year.” And so others.
IT am not ignorant what commentators say upon these
places: but why may not mony) nosy Eiglath Shelishijah be
the name of some place, and so called a third Eglah, in
respect of two-other places much of the same sound; or
duchess, or noble Eglah, as how signifies a duke or tri-
bune.
There is mention of ραν ry Ein Eglaim, in that country,
Ezek. xlvii. 10; where Eglaim is plainly of the dual number,
and seems to intimate that there were two Lgels, with eon
to which this our Hglah may be called Eglah the third. So
Ramathaim, 1 Sam. i. 2, is of the dual number, and plainly
shews there were two Ramahs.
The sound of the word Necla comes pretty near it. This
we meet with in Ptolemy, in Arabia Petreea:
Loupe. 20are - ΤΟ. 29. 20. 20.
@odva. Thoan . 67. 30. 30. 30.
Néxkas Neécla,) 3 067.20. 6. 9: ΠΡ.
So' that here we see the geographer mentions Zoar and
Necla, as the prophet before had Zoar and Eglah: and how
easily might Eglah pass into Necla in Greek writing, espe-
cially if the letter y hath any thing of the sound of the letter
nin it. The geographer makes the distance of Zoar from
Necla to be fifteen miles: so, we may suppose, was the dis-
tance of Zoar from Eglah, Horonaim lying between them ;
from whence the words of the prophet may not be unfitly
rendered thus :
“ His fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, unto the third Eglah.
From Zoar unto Horonaim: even unto the third Eglah.”
I am deceived if”AyadAa, Agalla, which we meet with in
Josephus’, be not the Eglah we are now speaking οἵ : num-
bering up the twelve cities, which Hyrcanus promised he
would restore to Aretas, the Arabian king, being what his
father Alexander had taken from him: amongst the rest he
r Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 584.
s Antiq. lib. xiv. c. 2. [Hudson, p. 609.] [xiv. 1. 4.]
352 ( horoqraph ical inquiry.
nameth “Ayadda, ᾿Αθώνη, Ζώαρα, “Opova, Agalla, Athone,
Zoar, Horonet. Of Zoar there can be no scruple; and as
little of ‘Opdvar, Horone ; but, by that must be meant HHo-
ronaim. ᾿Αθώνη, Athone, seems to bear a like sound with
Ptolemy’s Θοάνα, Thoana; and ᾿Αγαλλὰ, Agalla, with his
‘ Necla,’ and that with our ‘ Kglah.’
CHAP. TV:
Σιχάρ. John iy. 5.
I. A few remarks upon the Samaritan affairs. 11. The Sama-
ritan version of the Pentateuch. 111. The situation of mount
Gerizim and Ebal. The Samaritan text on Deut. xxvii. 4,
noted. IV. Why written Sychar, and not Sychem. VY. ry
DID in the Talmudists.
Secr. L—A few remarks upon the Samaritan affairs.
i. Of the name of the Cuthites.
Tuat the ‘ Samaritans’ are called ‘ Cuthites’ by the Jews
is unquestionable ; Οἱ κατὰ μὲν τὴν ᾿Εβραίων γλῶτταν Xov-
θαῖοι, κατὰ δὲ τὴν “EAAjnvov Σαμαρεῖται, Those" that in the
Hebrew tongue are called Cuthzeans, in the language of the
Greeks are Samaritans.”
But why Cuthites rather than Babylonians, Hamathites,
Avites, &e., is uncertain: for thence, as well as from Cutha,
were colonies transplanted into Samaria, 2 Kings xvii. 24:
nay, they were called Cuthites even at that time, when a
great part of the Samaritan nation consisted of Jews.
I am apt to apprehend there was some virulent design
even in the very name. The name of Cushites amongst the
Jews was most loathsome and infamous; as they were not
only a hostile country, but a people accursed, and, for their
black hue, even horrid to the very sight. Perhaps in the
title of the seventh Psalm there is no little severity of re-
proach hinted in the name Cush. Something of the like na-
ture may be couched in the word Cuthim. For whereas
DO .NID may be the same with ὩΣ, the letter w being
changed into M in the Syriac dialect: it may be an easy
conjecture, that the Jews, calling the Samaritans (a nation
τ English folio edition, vol. ii. p. a Joseph. Antiq. lib. ix. cap. 14.
503. (Hudson, p. 429. 1. 20.] [ix. 14. 3-]
Josephus mistaken. 353
peculiarly abominated by them) Cuthites, might tacitly re-
proach them with the odious name of Cushites.
2. Josephus mistaken.
Rabbi Ismail saith *, OF NYAS 7] OWNS “ that the Cu-
thites are proselytes of lions.” R. Akiba saith, JT MON VA
“that they are true proselytes.”. The story of the lions,
2 Kings xvii. 26, is well enough known; which Josephusy,
faltering very lamely, reports in this manner ; Ἕκαστοι κατὰ
ἔθνος ἴδιον Θεὸν εἰς τὴν Σαμάρειαν κομίσαντες, πέντε δ᾽ ἦσαν, καὶ
τούτοις. καθὼς ἣν πάτριον αὐτοῖς, σεβόμενοι, παροξύνουσι τὸν μέ-
γιστον Θεὸν εἰς ὀργὴν καὶ χόλον. Λοιμὸς γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἐνέσκεψεν,
ὑφ᾽ οὗ φθειρόμενοι, &c. He tells us that as every one brought
their several gods into Samaria, and worshipped them ac-
cordingly, so the great and true God was infinitely displeased
with them, and brought a destructive plague amongst them.
He makes no mention of lions being sent amongst them,
according to what the sacred history relates. Probably the
story of that horrible destruction upon Sennacherib’s army
by a wasting plague, gave the first rise to Josephus’s fancy of
a plague amongst the Samaritans; though it is very odd that
he should have no touch of the lions, being so remarkable a
judgment as that was.
3. Samaria planted with colonies two several times.
There are the colonies which Asnapper is said to have
brought into Samaria, Ezra iv. 10, as well as those by Esar-
haddon, ver. 2.
The Jews do judge this ‘ Asnapper’ to be the same with
‘Sennacherib,’ and that he had eight names. The first syl-
lables of the names, indeed, agree pretty well, Sena and Asna;
but whether they denote the same persons, I leave undeter-
mined.
However, whether this Asnapper was the same with Sen-
nacherib, or Shalmaneser, or some great minister, or the
king’s commander-in-chief, in the transplanting of a colony,
it seems evident that Samaria was planted with colonies two
x Kiddushim, fol. 75. 2. 2 In Sanhedyr. fol. 94. 1.
y Antiq. lib. ix. cap. 14. [Hud- @ English folio edition, vol. il. p.
son, p. 429. 1. 8.] [ix. 14. 3.] 504.
LIGHTFOOT, VOL, I, Aa
354 : Chorographical inquiry.
several times. The first, immediately after the taking of the
city, being then furnished with Cuthites, Avites, Sepharvaites,
&e., under Asnapper; be he king, or only chief commander
in the action. And when multitudes of them had been de-
voured by lions, then was it afresh planted by the Shushan-
chites, Tarpelites, &c., in the days of Esar-haddon, with
whom a priest went up to instruct them in the worship of
the true God. How greatly Epiphanius confounds these
things may be seen in his Heres. viii. cap. 9.
4. Of Dosthat, the pseud-apostle of the Samaritans.
“ When” the lions had devoured the Samaritans, the
Assyrian king, hearing the news, calls to him the elders of
Israel, and asks them, Did the wild beasts ever use to tear
and mangle any of your people in your own land, when you
dwelt there? Therefore, how comes it to pass that they do
so¢ now? ‘They answer him, Our own land bears no nation,
that is net conversant in the law, or will not be circumcised.
Send, therefore, saith he, two, that may go and instruct the
people. So they sent 832 (NNO A 7. Dosthai the son
of Jannat, and FVAW “sR. Sabia, who taught them the book
of the written law.”
But is this hkely? that Dosthai, the Samaritans’ oracle,
should be in the times of the Assyrian empire? whence then
had he that Greek name of his? and the name of his father
Janneus was-Greekish too. It is much more probable, what
Eulogius hath in Photius¢; “'The Samaritan people, having
divided into various factions, disagreed amongst themselves,
and brought in foreign opinions. Some were of opinion that
Joshua was he of whom Moses spoke, when he tells them,
‘ A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you from
among your brethren, like unto me.’ Οἱ δὲ τοῦτο μὲν παρε-
γράφοντο, Δοσθὴν δὲ τίνα τοὔνομα ἢ Δοσίθεον ἀνεκήρυττον, Σα-
μαρείτην μὲν καὶ αὐτὸν τὸ γένος, συνακμήσαντα δὲ κατά τε τοὺς
χρόνους Σίμωνι τῷ Μάγῳ. Others, rejecting this opinion, cried
up one Dosthai, or Dositheus, a native Samaritan, and con-
temporary with Simon Magus.
From Dosthai and Sabia, the Dostheni and Sebuei, two
Samaritan sects, originally sprang °.
Ὁ Tanchun, fol. 17. 4. d Cod. 230.
© Leusden’s edition, vol. 11. p. 585. © Epiph. Heres. xi., &c.
The language of Ashdod. 355
5. The language of Ashdod, Neh. xiii. 24, whether the
Samaritan language or no ?
“ Andf the children spake half in the speech of Ashdod,
and could not speak in the Jews’ language.” What language
was this at this time ?
“1, The Arabian version tells us it was the Chaldee. But
was not the Jewish and the Chaldee tongue at that time all
one? It may be questionable whether it were so “ at that
time or no;” but I shall wave that controversy.
II. As to the question in hand, it may not be amiss to
consider that passage, Acts ii. 11: Κρῆτες καὶ “Apafes,
“ Cretes and Arabians.” Who are these Cretes? who would
not think, at first sight, that, by the Cretans were meant
the inhabitants of the island of Crete? I myself have some-
time fallen into this error; but now I should be ready to
say they were the Cherethim, a Philistine nation and coun-
try. O05 by the Greek interpreters is rendered Κρῆτες,
Cretes, Ezek. xxv. 16, Zeph. ii. 5,6: and there is some rea-
son to apprehend that St. Luke, in the place above quoted,
understands the same people, because he joins them with the
Arabians.
Targum on 2 Chron. xxvi. 7: “ And the word of the Lord
helped them, W722 pant Nay Sy ownwds Sy against
the Philistines, and against the Arabians dwelling in Gerar.”
Observe, Arabians dwelling in Gerar, a city of the Phi-
listines ;—and it is well enough known that Arabia joins to
the land of the Philistines. And one may suspect the lan-
guage of Ashdod might be the Arabian, rather than the Sa-
maritan tongue; especially when as the name of Idumea
obtained as far as these places: and was not the Arabic the
language of the Idumeans ?
Secor. 11.—The Samaritan Pentateuch.
In the Samaritan version (that I may still contain myself
within our Chorographical Inquiry), as to the names of
places, there are three things are matter of our notice, and
a fourth of our suspicion.
I. There are some places obscure enough by their own
f Neh, xiii. 24.
Aa 2
950 Chorographical inquiry.
names, which, as they are there rendered, are still more per-
plexed and unknown. Consult the names used there for the
rivers’ of Eden, and the countries which those rivers ran
into, and you will see how difficult it is any where else to
meet with the least footstep or track of those names, except
Cophin only, which seems indeed to agree something with
Cophen mentioned by Pliny".
Il. Places of themselves pretty well known are there called
by names absolutely unknown. Such are WUT Chatsphu,
for Assyria, Gen. 11. 14: Pe) Lilak, for Babel, Gen. x. 9:
ΜΡ Salmaah for Euphrates, Gen. xy. 18: pp Naphik
for Egypt, Gen. xxvi. 2.
III. Sometimes there are names of a later date used, and
such as were most familiarly known in those days. Such
are ὉΜῸῺΣ Banias for Dan, Gen. xiv. 14, that is, Panias, the
spring of Jordan: DI} Gennesar for Chinnereth, Numb.
xxxiy. 11, Deut. 11. 17: not to mention Bathnan and Apamia
for Bashan and Shepham, which are so near akin with the
Syriae pronunciation : and Gebalah, or Gablah, for Seir, ac-
cording to the Arabic idiom.
Such names as these make me suspect the Samaritan ver-
sion not to be of that antiquity which some would claim for
it, making it almost as ancient as the days of Ezra.
IV. 1 suspect too, when we meet with places pretty well
known of themselves, obscured by names most unknown, that,
sometimes, the whole country is not to be understood, but
some particular place of that country only.
The suspicion is grounded on the word Naphik for Egypt,
and Salmaah for Euphrates. By Naphik, probably, they un-
derstood, not the whole land of Egypt, but Pelusiwm only,
which is the very first entry into Egypt from Canaan. The
reason of this conjecture is this: the word [HIN Anpak (as
we have elsewhere observed) was writ over the gates of that
city; and how near that word comes to Naphik, is obvious
enough to any one.
It is possible, also, that the mention of the Kinites, imme-
diately following, might bring Sa/maah to mind; and so they
might not call ‘ Euphrates’ itself ‘Salmaah,’ but speaking of
& English folio edition, vol. ii. p. h Nat. Hist. lib. vi. cap. 23. Strabo
595. lib. xv. [c. 1.]
The situation of mounts Gerizim and Hbal. S07
; Euphrates’ as washing some place called ‘Salmaah,’ Pto-
lemy, in his chapter concerning the situation of Arabia
Deserta, mentions Salma, in degr. 78. 20. 28.30: and it is
numbered amongst six-and-twenty other cities, which he
saith are ἐν τῇ μεσογείᾳ, which the Latin interpreter translates
‘ Juxta Mesopotamiam,’ ‘near Mesopotamia.’ If this be true,
the Samaritan version hath something by which it may de-
fend itself: for if those cities mentioned by Ptolemy were
indeed ‘ Juxta Mesopotamiam,’ ‘near Mesopotamia’ (the river
Kuphrates only running between), then may the Samaritan
version be warranted while it renders ‘‘even to the river Eu-
phrates,” ‘* even to the river of Salmaah,” that is, “ to the
river Kuphrates in that place where it washeth the sides of
Salma.”
Secr. Ill.—The situation of the mounts Gerizim and Ebal.
The Samaritan text upon Deut. xxvii. 4 noted.
Tuar Sychar is the same place with Sychem, seems _be-
yond doubt; which, indeed, the mount Gerizim pointed to
by the Samaritan woman, sufficiently confirms. A wily ar-
gument, perhaps, in Epiphanius’s esteem, who, in his Sama-
ritan heresy, gives us this account :
Τῷ γὰρ βουλομένῳ ἀκριβῶς περὶ τοῦ ὄρους Γαριζεὶν ἐρευνᾶσθαι,
ἰστέον ὅτι πρὸς τῇ ᾿Ιεριχῷ κεῖνται τὰ δύο ὄρη, τό τε τοῦ Γαριζεὶν
καὶ τὸ τοῦ Γεβὰλ πέραν τοῦ Ιορδάνου, πρὸς τῇ ἀνατολῇ τῆς ᾿Ιεριχῶ,
ὡς ἔχει τὸ Δευτερονόμιον, καὶ ᾿Ιησοῦ τοῦ Νανῆ ἡ βίβλος" “ There
are two mounts near Jericho beyond Jordan, Gerizim and
Ebal, which look towards Jericho on the east,” ὅσο. So that,
we see, he tells us Gerizim and Ebal were near Jericho, not
near Sychem. So also before him, Husebius ‘de Locis He-
braicis,’ at least, if he be the author of that book, as Petavius
noteth.
That clause baba bar « over- -against Gilgal,” Deut. xi. 30,
hath deceived these authors in that manner, that they have
removed the mounts Gerizim and Ebal to Gilgal by Jericho :
and it hath, on the other hand, deceived some in that manner,
that they have brought Gilgal by Jericho to Sychem, mis-
understanding the word Gilgal for that place mentioned in
i Leusden’s edition, yol. ii. p. 586.
358 Chorographical inquiry.
Josh. v, when this which Moses speaks of is really nar
as I have proved elsewhere.
On these two mounts (it is well known) were ere
the blessings and the curses, Deut. xi. 29, and xxvil. 12, 133
Josh. viii. 33. But mark the impudence of the Samaritans,
who, in their text, Deut. xxvii. 4, instead of “ Ye shall set
up these stones which 1 command you this day bay “WI2 on
mount Ebal,” they have put vie shall set up these ‘stones, &e.
OVA Wl on mount Gerizim.”
Compare, with this falsification of theirs, that in Sotah*,
“R. Eliezer Ben Jose saith, [ have said to you, Ὁ Samaritans,
Ye have falsified your law; for ye say, DDW M19 sibw the
plain of Moreh, which is Shechem, Deut. xi. 30 [they add She-
chem of their own]: we ourselves indeed confess that the plain
of Moreh is Shechem,” Ge.
Seeing he blames the Samaritans for falsifying their text
in so little a matter, wherein the truth is not injured, namely,
in adding Shechem, why did he not object to them that
greater! fault of suborning Gerizim for mount Hal. The
truth is, this very thing giveth me reason enough to suspect
that this bold and wicked interpolation of the word Gerizim
for αὶ hath stolen into the Samaritan text since the time
that this Rabbin wrote. The thing is not unworthy our con-
sidering.
Srecr. 1V.— Why it is written Sychar, and not Sychem.
Ir Sychem and Sychar be one and the same city, why
should not the name be the same !
I. This may happen from the common dialect, wherein it
is very usual to change the letters. So Reuben in the Syriac
version is Reubil, and “PovBnros, Rubelus, in Josephus ; by what
etymology let him tell, and explain it if you can. Speaking
of Leah bringing forth Reuben, he thus expresseth himself ™ ;
Kat γενομένου παιδὸς ἄρρενος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πρὸς αὐτὴν ἐπεστρεμ--
μένου τοῦ ἀνδρὸς, Ρούβηλον ὀνομάζει τὸν υἱὸν, διότι κατ᾽ ἔλεον
αὐτῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ γένοιτο. Τοῦτο γὰρ σημαίνει τὸ ὄνομα" “ And
having brought forth a male child, and obtaining favour from
her husband by it, she called his name Rubel, because it
k Fol. 33. m Antiq. lib. i. cap. το. [Hud-
1 English folio edit., vol. ii. p.506. son, p. 41. 1. 32.] [i. 19. 7
Ain Socar in the Talmud. 359
happened to her according to the mercy of God ; for this his
name signifies.” Perhaps he might at that time think of
bss a5) which imports the “increase of God.”
It would be endless to reckon up such variations of letters
in proper names ; but as to the letter 7, which is our business
at present, take these few instances :
‘ Nebuchadnezzar’ is elsewhere ‘ Nebuchadrezzar ;’ ‘ Belial’
is ‘ Beliar ; ‘Shepham,’ by the Greek interpreters, Sepapap,
Sephamar, Numb. xxxiv. 11: so Sychem, Sychar; and this
so much the rather because the letters 7 and m have ob-
tained I know not what kind of relation and affinity one
with another. So Dammesek and Darmesek in the Holy
Scriptures; and the ‘ Samaritans’ are the ‘ Samatians’ in
Dionysius Afer, το.
Or, secondly, it might happen that the Jews, by way of
scoff and opprobrium, might vulgarly call Sychem Sychar,
either that they might stigmatize the Samaritans as ‘ drunk-
ards,’ Isa. xxvill. 1, “ Woe to the drunkards [pw] of
Ephraim ;” or (as the word might be variously writ and pro-
nounced) might give them some or other disgraceful mark, as
ἽΡΦ signifies prevaricating ; DW a mercenary or lureling ;
DID a sepulchre. So Aruch in 43D, DVD) WWD DID
Sochere, 1. 6. sepulchres. He quotes a place" where the words
are not as they are by him cited; nor is he consistent with
himself in the interpretation. But Munster hath "310 a se-
pulchre. Τῇ it be thus, perhaps DIY Sychem might be called
Sychar, because there the twelve patriarchs were buried ; and
under that notion the Samaritans might glory in that name.
Sect. V.—351D ry Ain Socar, in the Talmud.
May we not venture to render (31D Py the well of
Sychar ? We meet with both the place and name in Bava
Kama°®; ‘ There was a time when the sheaf” [of the first-
fruits] “was brought PO 2 Mil Ὁ fromP Gaggoth Zeriphin,
and the two loaves” [those which were to be offered by the
high-priest] ΣΟ Py ΓΌΡΞ “ from the valley of the well of
Sychar.” So give me leave to render it. Gloss; ‘“ The
sheaf was wont to be fetched from places in the neighbour-
2 Schab. fol. 67. 1. ° Bava Kama, fol. 82. 2.
Ρ Leusden’s edition, vol.il. p. 587.
900 Chorographical inquiry.
hood of Jerusalem; but now, the fruits having been de-
stroyed by war, they were fain to fetch it afar off.”
Take, if you will, the whole story: “It is a tradition
among the Rabbins, that when the Asmonean family mu-
tually besieged one another, Aristobulus without, and Hyr-
canus within, every day they that were besieged within let
down their money by the wall in a little box, which those
that were without received, and sent them back their daily
sacrifice. It came to pass that there was an old man amongst
them skilled in the wisdom of the Greeks, that told them,
‘So long as they within perform their worship, you will never
be able to subdue them.’ Upon this, the next day they let
down their money, and the besiegers sent them back a hog;
when the hog had got*half up the wall, fixing his feet upon
it, the land of Israel shook four hundred leagues round about.
From that time they said, ‘Cursed be he that breedeth swine:
cursed be he that teacheth his son the wisdom of the Greeks.’
From that time the sheaf of the first-fruits was fetched from
Gaggoth Zeriphin, and the two loaves from the valley Ein
Sychar.”
This story is told, with another annexed, in Menachoth 9:
“When the time came about that the sheaf should be brought,
nobody knew from whence to fetch it. They made inquiry,
therefore, by a public crier. There came a certain dumb man,
ΔΝ ND TT DAMN) and stretched forth one hand
towards a roof, ADAZN MD SWH and the other hand*
towards a cottage. Mordecai saith to them, ‘ Is there any
place that is called Gaggoth Zeriphin, or Zeriphin Gaggoth ?
They sent and found there was. When they would have of-
fered the two loaves, but knew not where to get them, they
made inquiry again by a public crier; the same dumb man
comes again, TPPYN AD DMN and he puts one hand to his
eye, SIDON NY NWN and another hand to the hole of the
doorpost where they put in the bolt. Quoth Mordecai to them,
‘Ts there such a place as Ein Sychar, or Sychar Ein? They
inquired, and found there was.”
But what had Mordecai to do with the times of the As-
moneans? One of the Glossators upon this place makes this
objection ; and the answer is, That whoever were skilled
4 Menach, fol. 64. 2. tr English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 507-
Bethesda. 361
either in signs or languages had this name given them from
Mordecai, who, in the days of Ahasuerus, was so skilled.
And now let the reader give us his judgment as to name
and place; whether it doth not seem to have some relation
with our well of Sychar. It may be disputed on either side.
I shall only say these things :
Menachoth, as before; ““ It is commanded that the sheaf
be brought from some neighbouring place, 27 ‘DIN
Ὃ Ὃ IMS pas bund but if it ripen not in any place
near Jerusalem, la them fetch tt elsewhere.” Gloss: “ Gaggoth
Zeriphin and Ein Sychar were at a great distance from Je-
rusalem.” So is our Sychar distant far enough indeed.
“ΡΣ Zariph, and TDA Zeripha, denotes a little cottage,
nw saw dw bp where the keeper of fields lodged.” It
is described by Aruch in the word ὩΣ, that “it was covered
over with osier twigs, the tops of which were bound toge-
ther, and it was drawn at pleasure from one place to an-
other,” ὅσο.
Gloss. in Erubhin: PHA WN “ They that dwelt in those
cottages were keepers of sheep; they abode in them for a
month or two, so long as the pasture lasted, and then they
removed to another place.” Gaggoth Zeriphin, therefore, sig-
nifies the roofs of little cottages: and the place seems to be
so called either from the number of such lodges in that place,
or from some hills there, that represented and seemed to have
the shape of such kind of cottages.
Such cottages may come to mind when we read, Luke ii. 8,
of the shepherds watching their flocks by night. But this is
out of our way.
CEHVAP WV:
Bethesda, John ν. 2.
I. The situation of the Probatica. 11. The fountain of Siloam,
and its streams. 111. The pool now Shelahh, and the pool
rdw Shiloahh. IV. The Targumist on Eccles. 11. 5 noted,
V. The fountain of Etam. The Water-gate.
Sect. I.—The situation of the Probatica.
Ir is commonly said that the Προβατικὴ πύλη, the Pro-
batica, or the Sheep-gate (for let us annex the word gate
t Erubhin, fol. 65. 2.
362 Chorographical inquiry.
to it, out of Neh. iii. 1), or, at least, Bethesda, was near the
Temple. Consult the commentators, and they almost all
agree in this opinion. With their good leave, let it not be
_ amiss to interpose these two or three things:
I. That no part of the outward wall of the city (which
this Sheep-gate was) could be so near the Temple, but that
some part of the city must needs lie between. Betwixt the
north gates and the Temple, Zion was situated ; on the west,
was part of Zion and Millo; on the south, Jerusalem, as it is
distinguished from Zion; on the east, the east street, whose
gate is not the Sheep-gate, but the Water-gate.
II. The Προβατικὴ πύλη, the Sheep-gate, according to Ne-
hemiah’s description, should be situated on the south" wall
of the city, not far from the corner that pointed south-east ;
so that a considerable part of Jerusalem lay betwixt the
Temple and this gate.
We have elsewhere made it plain that Sion was situated
on the north part of the city, contrary to the mistake of the
tables, which place it on the south. Now, therefore, consi-
der to how great an extent the wall must run before it can
come to any part of Zion ; to wit, to the stairs that go down
from the city of David, ver. 15, which were on the west ; and
thence proceed to the sepulchres of David, ver. 16; till it
come at length to the* Water-gate, and Ophel towards the
east, ver. 26: and thence to the corner near which is the
Sheep-gate, ver. 31, 32; and this will plainly evince that
the description and progress in Nehemiah is, first, of the
south wall, from the Sheep-gate to the west corner; then
of the west wall; and so to the northern and the eastern;
which makes it evident that the Sheep-gate is on the south
wall, a little distant from the corner which looks south-east,
which could not but be a considerable distance from the
Temple, because no small part of Jerusalem, as it was dis-
tinguished from Zion, laid between.
Secor. Il.— The fountain of Siloam, and its streams.
Our inquiry into Bethesda (if I be not greatly mistaken)
must take its rise from the fountain of Siloam.
I. The proper and ancient name for the fountain of Si-
" Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 538. x English folio edit., vol. ii. p, 508.
πω αν,
The pool of Siloam. 363
loam, was Gihon, τ Kings i. 33; “ Bring ye him {Sclomon]
down to Gihon.” ‘Targum, to ‘Siloam:’ Kimehiy, ‘ Gihon
is Siloam, and is called by a twofold name.” The tables
that describe Jerusalem speak of a ‘ mount Gihon ;’ by what
warrant I cannot tell: if they had said the ‘ fountain Gihon,’
it might have pleased better.
Il. How that name ‘Gihon’ should pass into ‘ Siloam,’ is
difficult to say. ‘‘ The waters” of it are mentioned, Isa. vii. 6,
to signify the reign and sovereignty of the house of David.
So the Targum and Sanhedrin. “ Rabh Joseph saith, ΠῚ there
had been no Targum of this Seripture, we had not known
the sense of it, which is this: Forsomuch as this people is
weary of the house of David, whose reign hath been gentle
as the flowing of the waters of Siloam, which are gentle,” &c.
Therefore it was not in vain that David sent his son Solomon
to be anointed at Gihon or Siloam, for he might look upon
those waters as some type or shadow by which the reign of
his house should be deciphered.
Ill. The situation of it was behind the west wall, not far
from the corner that pointed towards the south-west. "ἔπειτα
πρὸς νότον ὑπὲρ τὴν Σιλωὰμ ἐπιστρέφον πήγην, ἔνθεν “τε πάλιν
ἐκκλίνον πρὸς ἀνατολήν; “ The? wall bent southward above
the fountain of Siloam, and then again inclined towards the
east.”
The waters of this spring, by different streams, derived
themselves into two fish-pools, as seems hinted in 2 Chron.
xxxil. 30: “ Hezekiah stopped the upper water-course of
Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the
city of David ;” where a MS. of the Targum, ΓΘ M 7H
ΠΥ: instead of “73% we should write 2 of the waters:
pana. pam προ ; I suspect that for P2701, should
be written PAVIA én pipes : ‘Tie stopped up the upper waters
of Gihon, and brought them in pipes.” But to let this pass,
that which I would observe is this: that there was a water-
course from Gihon or Siloam, which was called the “ upper
water-course,” which flowed into a pool, called also the “ upper
pool,” Isa. xxxvi. 2; and, as it should seem, the “ old pool,”
Isa. xxii. 11; by Josephus “ the pool” or “ fish-pool of Solo-
mon ;” for so he, in the place before cited.
y Kimchi in loc. a Joseph. de Bell. v. 13. [Hud-
z'Targ.[ad loc.|Sanhedr.fol.g4.2. son, p. 1222. 1. 23.] [v. 4. 2.]
904 Chorographical inquiry.
Ἔνθεν τε πάλιν ἐκκλίνον πρὸς ἀνατολὴν ἐπὶ τὴν Σολομῶνος
κολυμβήθραν" “716 wall again inclined eastward, even to
Solomon's fish-pond, and going on to the place called Ophel,
it came over-against the eastern porch of the Temple.” From
whence we may gather that Solomon’s fish-pool was within,
hard by the east wall of the city, and on this side the place
they called Ophel: which does so well agree with the situa-
tion of Bethesda within the sheep-gate, that it seems to me
beyond all doubt or question, that Solomon’s pool and the
pool of Bethesda were one and the same.
Secr. II1.— The pool now Shelahh, and the pool
my Shiloah.
By another stream the waters of Siloam are derived into
another pool, which is called the Lower Pool, Isa. xxii. g,
and the King’s Pool, Neh. ii. 14; near the west wall of Sion.
We have the mention of it also in Neh. iii. 15: ΓΞ
yon Pe) nbwe the pool of Siloam by the king’s garden.
Where we may observe that it is here written M7 w Shelahh,
different from mide Shiloahh, Isa. vill. 6; by a difference
hardly visible in Bibles not pointed: indeed, sometimes over-
looked by myself, and so, as is evident, by others. For πρὸ
is rendered in the very same sound with Shiloahh, in the
Complutensian, Vulgar, English, and French Bibles. And,
in St. John ix. 7, where there is mention of the pool Siloam,
some commentators refer you to that text in Nehemiah.
The Greek interpreters did, indeed, observe the difference,
and thus render the words of Nehemiah, Κολυμβήθρας τῶν
κωδίων τῇ Kovpa τοῦ βασιλέως" ‘The pool of skins by the
king’s wool.” Nor doth the Italian overlook it; for that
renders it thus: ‘“ La Piscina di Selae presso al orto del Re :”
“The Fish-pond of Selac hard by the garden of the king.”
It is observable in the Greek version, that whereas they
render the word by τῇ κουρᾷ τοῦ βασιλέως, the king's wool,
or hair, they may seem to have read 34 a fleece of wool:
for {2 a garden. And whereas they. translate novi rio
by κολυμβήθρα τῶν κωδίων, the pool of skins, they follow the
signification of the word as it 1s frequently used amongst the
Talmudists.
b English folio edition, vol. il. p. 509.
The pool Shelahh. 365
Now, therefore, here ariseth a question, whether that pool
be the pool of Siloam or no: which as yet hath hardly been
questioned ¢ by any, and, for some time, not by myself. But
Iam now apt to think that it was so distinguished betwixt
the two pools, that the lower pool retaining its name of the
‘Pool of Shelahh,’ the upper pool obtained that of ‘ Siloahh.’
For,
I. How otherwise should that distinction of the Greek
version arise, but that the interpreters followed the common
pronunciation of the word Shelahh, when they render it τῶν
κωδίων, of skins. ᾿
II. Those words of St. John ix. 7, Εἰς τὴν κολυμβήθραν τοῦ
Σιλωὰμ, ὃ ἑρμηνεύεται ᾿Απεσταλμένος, “in the pool of Siloam,
which is by interpretation, Sent,” seem to intimate that there
were two pools of a very near sound, whereof one signified
᾿Απεσταλμένος, Sent, the other not.
Il]. The Jerusalem Talmudists seem to say that the upper
pool was called the ‘ Pool of Siloam’ in these words: “Hed
that is unclean by a dead body doth not enter into the mount
of the Temple. It is said that they appear only in the court.
Whence do you measure ? from the wall, or from the houses ?
It is Samuel's tradition, MWD from Siloam: now Siloam
was in the midst of the city.”
The question here propounded is, whether he that is un-
clean by a dead body may be permitted to enter the Temple:
and the stating of it comes to this, that inquiry be made
within what measure he is to be admitted; whether within
the wall of the Temple, or at that distance where the houses
next to the Temple end; especially where the houses of Si-
loam end.
Now, whereas they say AIM yynwa mea mbw that
Siloam is in the midst of the city, it must by no means be un-
derstood of the fountain itself, for that was plainly without
the city ; nor yet of the lower pool Shelahh, for that also was
without the city, or scarce within it. There is, therefore, no
third, unless that this upper pool be called ‘ the pool of Si-
loam,’ and that it give denomination to the adjacent part of
the city, to wit, to the five porches and the buildings about
it: which though they were not in the very centre of the city,
© Leusden’s edition, vol. 11. p. 589. a Chagigah, fol. 76. 1.
960 Chorographical inquiry.
yet they might properly enough be said to be in the middle
of it, because they were situated a good way within the walls.
Ὃ πύργος ἐν τῷ Σιλωὰμ, Luke xiii. 4, “ the tower of Siloam,”
was amongst these buildings.
Secr. 1V.—The Targumist on Eccles. i. 5 noted.
Iv is an even lay, whether the Targumist on this place deal
more cunningly or more obscurely. The passage is about
the king’s gardens: and he, “I planted me all trees of spice,
spat poop δ hab ert which the goblins and
the demons brought me out of India :” and then goes on,
mow sv A Sy obeyed amp aw yo momm
and the bound of tt was from the wall that is un Jerusalem,
by the bank of the waters of Siloam. Render ἢ by jJuata
ripam, by the bank for illustration’s sake; for ad ripam,
to the bank (as the Latin interpreter renders it), although
it might signify the same, yet it may also signify something
else, and so become a difficulty not to be resolved. Besides,
it is to be observed, that it is by upon, or above, not yy unto.
The meaning of the Targumist seemeth to be this; that
the king’s gardens were bounded in this manner. They ex-
tended from the descent of Zion, until they came over-against
Shelahh, or the lower pool; even to the beginning of the
wall of the city, which is in Jerusalem: which wall runs near
to the bank of the waters of Siloam.
That passage in Neh. iii. 15 illustrates this; “the gate
of the fountain repaired Shallum, and the wall of the pool
of Shelahh by the king’s gardens.” ‘ The gate of the foun-
tain,’ whether that was called so from the pool of Siloam, or
otherwise, was at some distance from the king’s pool, Neh.
11. 14: and by the wall of the city, that ran between the gate
and the pool, there was a rivulet, drawn from the fountain
into that pool.
The words of the Targumist, therefore, are to be so ren-
dered as that the king’s gardens may not be said to extend
themselves to the bank of the waters of Siloam; but that the
wall of Jerusalem ran along by the bank of those waters, and
the garden to the first part οὐδ that wall. So that he does
not call the lower pool by the name of mbw Siloahh ;- but by
© English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 510.
The fountain of tam. The water-gate. 367
‘ the waters of Siloahh’ he understands the stream that came
from the fountain and fell into that pool.
Sect. V.—The fountain of Etam. The water-gate.
Tue collector of the Hebrew Cippi, Grave-stones, hath
this passage concerning the fountain of Etam: Pa JW.
Sy oo Ty oSunnS ya “ In the way betwixt Hebron
and Jerusalem, is the fountain Etam, from whence the waters
are conveyed by pipes into the great pool at J erusalem.” It
is so translated by the learned Hottinger, who also himself
adds, “1 suppose here is meant the Probatica, or the pool by
the Sheep-gate.”
The Rabbins often and again tell us of an aqueduct from
the fountain of Etam to Jerusalem. But it may very well be
doubted whether that fountain be in the way to Hebron ;
or whether those waters ran into the pool by the Sheep-gate.
For,
I. If the fountain of Etam be the same with the waters
of Nephtoah, mentioned Josh. xv. 9; which the Gloss sup-
poseth (where it is treating about the fountain of Ktam),
then it lieth quite in another quarter from Hebron; for He-
bron les on the south, and Nephtoah on the west.
Il. The waters streaming from the fountain Etam were
not conveyed into the city, but into the Temple: which
might be abundantly made out from the Talmudists, if there
were any need for it. And probably Aristeas hath respect
to this aqueduct: Ὕδατος δὲ ἀνέκλειπτός ἐστι σύστασις, &e.
ἐς There is a confluence of water that never fails [speaking of
the Temple]; as if there were a great spring within naturally
flowing: and for the space of five furlongs (as appeared every-
where about the Temple), there were certain receptacles
made, under the earth, by a wondrous and unspeakable
art.” Andé a little after: “ They led me out of the city
above four furlongs, where one bade me lean down my head
at a certain place, and listen to the noise that the flow of
waters there made,” ὅσο.
In a word, to any one that is conversant in the Talmudic
authors, nothing ean be more plain than that the aqueduct
from the fountain of Etam was into the Temple, and not into
f Joma, fol. 31.1. & Leusden’s edition, vol. 11. p. 590.
908 Chorographical inquiry.
the city ; and it is plain enough in Holy Writ that the aque-
duct into the sheep-pool was from the fountain of Siloam:
which also from that spring, from whence it was derived, is
called the ‘ Pool of Siloam ;’ and from him that first made it,
the ‘ Pool of Solomon ;’ and from the miraculous medicinal
virtue in it, ‘ the Pool of Bethesda.’
As to the Water-gate, we find it mentioned Neh. iii. 26,
situated on the east wall of the city ; called the ‘ Water-gate’
because through that the waters flowed out of the Temple;
and perhaps those also out of Bethesda. For, whereas the
waters ran incessantly out of Etam into the Temple, and
those that were more than needed flowed out of the Temple,
they all fell down into the valley that lay between the Temple
and Jerusalem, and emptied themselves by that gate which
bore the name of the ‘ Water-gate’ upon that account. And
it is probable that the pool of Bethesda, which also had its
constant supply by the aqueduct from the spring of Siloam,
did also continually empty itself along the descent of the hill
Acra, through the same gate, and so into the brook Kedron.
CHAP. VI.b
Στοὰ τοῦ Σολομῶντος. Solomon's Porch, John x. 23.
I. Some obscure hints about the Gate of Huldah and the Priest's
Gate. 11]. Solomon’s Porch ; which it was, and where.
Il. The Gate of Shushan, or Susan. The Bench of the
Twenty-three there. Shops there. AV. Short hints of the
condition of the Second Temple. ;
Secr. I.—Some obscure hints of the Gate of Huldah,
and the Priest’s Gate.
From Solomon’s Pool proceed we to Solomon’s Porch ;
which we have also recorded, Acts ν. 12. Possibly it is the
Στοὰ Βασιλικὴ, ‘the King’s Gate ;? both the title and the mag-
nificence of it make it probable. For, as Josephus tells us,
it was ἔργον ἀξιαφηγητοτάτων τῶν ὑφ᾽ ἡλίῳ, “ one of the most
memorable works under the suni.”
That king’s porch was situated on the south side of the
Temple, having under it on the wall stn ἜΜ IW the
h English folio edition, vol. ii. p. 511.
1 Antiq. lib. xv. cap. 14. [Hudson, p. 703. 1. 21.] [xv. 11. 5.]}
Solomon's Porch. 369
two gates of Huldah*. At which gates I rather admire than
believe or understand what I meet with concerning them;
“ Behold!, he stands behind our wall, that is, behind the west
wall of the l'emple ; because the Holy Blessed One hath sworn
that it shall never be destroyed. man ay WIT Δ
pow saan wb The Pricst’s gate also, and Huldah’s gate,
were never to be destroyed till God shall renew them.”
What gate that of the priest’s should be, I am absolutely
ignorant; unless it should be that over which was MDW
spunbia “the conclave of the βουλευτῶν, the counsellors,”
where was the bench and the consistory of the priests.
But be it this, or be it that, how do these and the rest
agree with what Josephus relateth ?
“Cesar™ commanded that the whole city and Temple
should be destroyed, saving only those towers which were
above the rest; viz. Phasaelus, the Hippic, and Mariamne,
and the west wall. The wall, that it might be for the gar-
rison soldiers ; the towers, as a testimony how large and how
fortified a city the Roman valour had subdued. Tov δ᾽ ἄλλον
ἅπαντα τῆς πόλεως περίβολον οὕτως ἐξωμάλισαν οἱ κατασκάπτον-
TES, ὡς μηδὲ πώποτ᾽ οἰκηθῆναι πίστιν ἂν ἔτι παρασχεῖν τοῖς προσ-
ελθοῦσι: “ But as to all the rest of the city and its whole com-
pass, they so defaced and demolished it, that posterity or
strangers will hardly believe there was ever any inhabited
city there.” Which all agrees well enough with what we
frequently meet with in the Jewish writers; that Turnus
Rufus drew a plough over the city and Temple. He is called
in Josephus Terentius Rufus,” Apyev τῆς στρατιᾶς Ὁ.
Secr. 11.—Solomon’s Porch ; which it was, and where.
Turoucu the ‘ Gate of Huldah’ you enter into the Court of
the Gentiles, and that under the Στοὰ Βασιλικὴ, the Hing’s
Gallery ; which, from the name itself and gallantness of the
structure, might seem worthy of such a founder as Solomon.
But this is not the porch or gallery which we seek for, nor
had it the name of royal from king Solomon, but from king
Herod.
k Middoth, cap. 1. son, p. 1295. 1.15.] [vii. 1. 1.
1 Jn Schir Rabba, fol. 16. 4. n De Bell. lib. vii. cap. 1. [wvii.
m De Bell. lib. vii. cap.1. [Hud- 2. 2.]
LIGHTFOOT, VOL. I. Bb
370 Chorographical inquiry.
Josephus, in this inquiry of ours, will lead us elsewhere ;
who thus tells us °, Ἤδη δὲ τότε καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν ἐτετέλεστο, “ At
this time was the Temple finished” [i. e. under Gessius Flo-
rus, the procurator of Judea about the eleventh or twelfth
year of Nero]; “ the people, therefore, seeing the workmen
were at leisure” (the work of the Temple being now wholly
finished], “ being in number more than eighteen thousand,
importune the king” [Agrippa] τὴν ἀνατολικὴν στοὰν aveyetpat,
“that he would repair the eastern porch.” Were are some
things not unworthy our observation ; partly, that the Temple
itself was not finished till this time ; and then, that the eastern
porch was neither then finished, nor, indeed, was there any at
all; for Agrippa, considering both how great a sum of money,
and how long a space of time would be requisite for so great a
work, rejected their suit. Herod, as it should seem from P
Josephus, finished the Temple, and the Pronaon, the porch
before it, and the Στοὰν Βασιλικὴν, the Royal Gallery. But
what he finished further, about the courts and cloister-walks,
it does not appear. It is manifest, indeed, that there was a
great 4 deal left unperfected by him; when the whole was
not finished till the very latter end of Nero’s reign, and
scarcely before that fatal war in which the Temple was burnt
and buried in its own ruins: which observation will be of use
when we come to John ii. 20, “ Forty and six years was this
Temple in building.”
Josephus proceeds, as to the eastern gallery : Ἦν δὲ ἡ στοὰ
τοῦ μὲν ἔξωθε: ἱεροῦ: Now that was the gallery of the outward
Temple, overlooking a deep valley, supported by walls of four
hundred cubits, made of great square stone, very white: the
length of each stone was twenty eubits, and the breadth six.
Ἔργον Σολομῶνος τοῦ Βασιλέως πρώτου δειμαμένου τὸ σύμπαν
ἱερόν" “The work of king Solomon, who first founded the whole
Temple.” There needs no commentary upon these words; the
ἀνατολικὴ στοὰ, the east gallery was first ἔργον Σολομῶνος,
Solomon's work: which plainly points which and where was
Solomon’s Porch ; namely, upon the outer wall of the Temple,
towards the east, as the Royal Gallery was upon the south
wall.
° Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 8. [Hud- P English folio edit., vol. ii. p. 512.
son, p. 898. 1. 44.] [xx. 9. 7.] & Leusden’s edit., vol. ii. p. 591.
The Gate of Shushan. 911
Seer. I1].—The Gate of Shushan. The assembly of the
Twenty-three there. The taberne, or ‘ shops, where
things were sold for the Temple.
Tuere was but one gate to this east wall, and that was
ealled PWIW WwW the Gate of Shushan. TYAN" Pw οὖν
ΣΤῚΣ “ Because upon that gate was engraven the figure of
Shushan, the metropolis of Persia.”
It is no wonder if they cherished the memory of Shushan
and the Persian empire, because it was under that empire
that the Temple was built; nor had they, indeed, ever re-
ceived much damage thence. But it is something strange,
that that sculpture should remain after so long a time that
that kingdom had been abolished ; and, after them, first
the Greeks, then the Romans, had obtained the universal
monarchy.
“Upons this gate the priest looked when he burnt the
red heifer.” For, slaying the heifer upon the mount of
Olives directly before the Temple when he sprinkled the
blood, he looked towards the holy of holiest. The Gate of
Shushan, therefore, was not of height equal with the others,
but built something lower, that it might not hinder his
prospect ὃ,
Upon this gate was the assembly of the Twenty-three held.
“There * were three assemblies; one upon the Gate of the
mountain of the Temple” [that is, upon the Gate Shushan]:
“another upon the Gate of the Court” [that is, upon the
Fate of Nicanor]: “ a third, in the reom Gazith.”
Going into the court by the Gate Shushan, both on the
right hand and on the left, there was a portico, upheld by a
double row of pillars, that made a double piazza. And either
within or about that portico were the MIM taberne, or
shops, where salt, and oil, and frankincense, with other ne-
cessary materials for the altar, were sold ; but by what right,
upon such sacred ground let the buyer or the seller, or both,
look to that.
“The great Sanhedrim removed from the room Gazithy,
© Middoth, cap. 1. hal. 3. " Midd. cap. 2. hal. 4.
5. Tbid. x Sanhedr. cap. 11. hal. 2.
t Parah, cap. 3. hal. 9. y Rosh Hashanah, fol. 31. 1.
Bb2
372 Chorographical inquiry.
mind to the shops, and from the shops into Jerusalem.” Not
that the Sanhedrim could sit in the shops where such things
were sold; but the lower part of that was all called by the
common name of the Tabernze, or shops.
Secr. [V.—Short hints of the condition of the second
Temple.
Tue Jews, upon their return from Babylon, at first made
use of an altar without a Temple, till the Temple was finished
under Darius the Second. And then they made use of the
Temple without the ark, a priesthood without the Urim and
Thummim, and sacrifices without fire from heaven. In some
of these things they were necessitated by present cireum-
stances; in other things they were directed by the prophets,
that flourished at that time.
Under the Persian empire, they went on quietly with
the Temple, little or nothing molested or incommoded by
them, unless in that affair under Bagos, mentioned by Jo-
sephus?.
But under the Greeks happened the calamity of the
Temple and nation; and all those dreadful things which
are spoken concerning God by Ezekiel the prophet, were
fulfilled in the tyranny of this empire. For Gog, in that
prophet, was no other than the Grecian? empire warring
against the people and sanctuary, and true worship of God.
It was a long time that the Jewish nation suffered very hard
things from that kingdom; the relation of which we have,
both in Josephus and the books of the Maccabees. The
chief actor in those tragedies was Antiochus Epiphanes, the
bloodiest enemy that the people and religion of the Jews ever
had: who, besides other horrid things he acted against their
law and religion, profaned the Temple and the altar, and
made the daily sacrifice to cease for “a thousand and three
hundred days,” Dan. viil. 14, or ‘one thousand two hundred
and ninety days,’ chap. xii. 11 : a round number for “a time,
and times, and half a time,” chap. vil. 25, xii. 7; that is,
“ three years and a half.”
Of the insolences of the Greeks against the Temple, we
z Autiq. lib. xi. cap. 7. [Hudson, p. 500.] [xi. 7. 1.7
a English folio edition, vol. 11. p. 513-
Condition of the second Temple. 373
read in Middoth: “ In» the railed place” [that divided the
Chel from the court of the Gentiles] SY75W 13 VA MSH a
ΠΝ "5519 there were thirteen breaches which the kings of Greece
made wpon it, &e. And that of the impudent woman;
“ Mary‘, the daughter of Bilgah, apostatized, and married
a certain Greek soldier. She came, and struck upon the top
of the altar, crying out, pind pind O wolf, wolf! thou
that devourest the wealth of Israel; and yet in the time of
her extremity canst not help her.” The same things are told
of Titus4.
Bute the heaviest thing of all was, when Antiochus pro-
faned the Temple and the altar, nor would allow any sacri-
fices to be offered there but heathenish and idolatrous. Of
which persecution consult 1 Mace. i. and Josephus, Antiq.
lib. xii. cap. 7. [xii. 5.] Indeed, this waste and profanation of
sacred things lasting for three years and a half, so stuck in
the stomachs of the Jews, that they retained that very
number as famous and remarkable ; insomuch that they often
make use of it when they would express any thing very sad
and afflictive.
«“Theref came one from Athens to Jerusalem, and stayed
there three years and a half, to have learnt the language of
wisdom, but could not learn it. Vespasian’ besieged Jeru-
salem for three years and a half; and with him were the
princes of Arabia, Africa, Alexandria, and Palestine, &c.
Three years and a half did Hadrian besiege Betar. The
judgment of the generation of the deluge was twelve months :
the judgment of the Egyptians twelve months: the judgment
of Job was twelve months: the judgment of Gog and Magog
was twelve months: the judgment of the wicked in hell
twelve months. But the judgment of Nebuchadnezzar was
three years and a half: and the judgment of Vespasian three
years and a half. Nebuchadnezzar’ stayed in Daphne of
Antioch, and sent Nebuzar-adan to destroy Jerusalem. He
continued there for three years and a half.”
There are many other passages of that kind, wherein they
do not so much design to point out a determinate space of
b Middoth, cap. 2. hal. 3. f Echah Rabbathi, fol. 60. 4.
© Jerus. Succah, fol. 55. 4. & Ibid. f.64.1. © Ibid. f. 71.1.
4 In Avoth R. Nathan. cap. τ. i Tbid. fol. 66. 2.
e Leusden’s edition, vol. ii. p. 592. k Ibid. fol. 79. 2.
914 Chorographical inquiry.
time, as to allude to that miserable state of affairs they were
in under Antiochus. And perhaps it had been much more
for the reputation of the Christian commentators upon the
Book of the Revelations, if they had looked upon that number,
and the “ forty-and-two months,” and the “ thousand two
hundred and sixty days,” as spoken allusively, and not applied
it to any precise or determinate time.
By the way, whilst we are speaking of the persecution
under the Greeks, we cannot but call to mind the story in
the Second Book of Maecab. vii, of the mother and her
seven sons, that underwent so cruel a martyrdom: because
we meet with one very like it, if not the same, only the name
changed.
““* Wel are killed all the day long, we are accounted as
sheep for the slaughter,’ Psalm xliv.22. Rab. Judah saith,
This may be understood of the woman and her seven sons.
They brought forth the first before Czesar, and they said unto
him, Worship idols. He answered and said to them, It is
written in our law, I am the Lord thy God. Then they ecar-
ried him out and slew him. They brought the second be-
fore Cesar,” &e. Which things are more largely related in
Echah Rabbathi™, where the very name of the woman is
expressed: FYIWIW DIN Ma OND MI Tyaw ὃν
“ Mary, the daughter of Nachton, who was taken captive with
her seven sons. Czesar took them and shut them up within
seven gates. He brought forth the first and commanded,
saying, Worship idols,” &e.
The story seems wholly the same, only the names of An-
tiochus and Cesar changed; of which the reader, having
consulted both, may give his own judgment. And because
we are now fallen into a comparing of the story in the Mae-
cabees with the Talmudists, let us compare one more in Jose-
phus with one in the same authors.
Josephus tells us, that he foretold it to Vespasian, that
he should be emperor®. Vespasian commanded that Jose-
phus should be kept with all the diligence imaginable, that
lie might be conveyed safely to Nero; which when Josephus
understood, he requested that he might be permitted to
1 Gittin, fol. 57. 2. " De Bell. Jud. lib. iii. cap. 27.
m Fol. 67. 4. and 68.1. (Hudson, p. 1146. 1. 44.] [iii 8. 9. |
Ee
Condition of the second Temple. 375
impart something of moment to Vespasian himself alone.
Vespasian having commanded all out of the room, except
Titus and two other of his friends, Josephus aceosts him
thus, Νέρωνί με πέμπεις: “ Are you sending me to Nero? Thou
thyself, O Vespasian, shalt be Czesar and emperor, thou and
this thy son,” Ge.
The Talmudists attribute such a prediction to Rabban
Jochanan Ben Zaccai, in the tracts before quoted; viz.
“ Rabban® Jochanan Ben Zaccai was carried out in a coffin,
as one that is dead, out of Jerusalem. He went to Vespa-
sian’s army and said, Where is your kingP? They went and
told Vespasian, There is a certain Jew desireth admission to
you. Let him come in, saith he. When he came in, he
said, SD50 Joy sodw wba Toy wnbw Live, O hing,
live, O king.” {So in Gittin; but in Midrash, Live ΠΝ
synbnrs my lord the emperor.| ‘‘Saith Vespasian, You sa-
lute me as if I were king, but I am not so; and the king will
hear this, and judge such a one to death. To whom he,
Although you are not king yet, you shall be so, PAT ΓΛ
qbon ὙΠ by sos on yma for this Temple must not be
destroyed but by a king's hand; as it is written, ‘ Lebanon
shall fall by a mighty one,’” Isa. x. 34.
To which of these two, or whether indeed to both, the
glory of this prediction ought to be attributed, I leave it to
the reader to judge ; returning to the timés of the Greeks.
The army and forces of the enemy being defeated under
the conduct of Judah the Maccabee, the people begin to
apply themselves to the care and the restoration of the
Temple, and the holy things. The story of which we meet
with 1 Mace. iv. 43, &c. and in Josephus 4, whose words are
worth our transcribing; Tov Ναὸν ᾿Ιούδας ἔρημον εὗρε, καὶ
καταπεπρησμένας τὰς πύλας, καὶ φυτὰ διὰ τὴν ἐρημίαν αὐτόματα
ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ βεβλαστηκότα: “He found the Temple desolated,
the gates burnt ; and the grass, through the mere solitude of
the place, springing up there of its own accord: therefore he
and his followers wept, being astonished at the sight.”
They", therefore, apply themselves to the purging of the
ο Gittin. fol. 56. 1. et Echah Rab- 4 Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 11. [Hud-
bathi, fol. 64. 2. son, p. 540. 1.18.] [xil. 7. 6.]
P English folio edit., vol.ii. p.614. τ Leusden’s edition, vol. il. p. 593:
910 Chorographical inquiry.
‘Temple, making up the breaches; and, as Middoth in the
place above speaks, “ Those thirteen breaches, which the
Grecians had made, MEWNNWT Δ PAID TN OID TN
they repaired ; and, according to the number of those breaches,
they tnstituted thirteen adorations.”
The altar, because it had been profaned by Gentile saeri-
fices, they pull it wholly down, and lay up the stones in a
certain chamber near the court.
“ Towards’ the north-east there was a certain chamber
where the sons of the Asmoneans laid up the stones of that
altar, which the Grecian kings had profaned:” and that
(as the Book of the Maccabees hath it) μέχρι τοῦ παραγενη-
θῆναι προφήτην, τοῦ ἀποκριθῆναι περὶ αὐτῶν : “ till there might
come a prophet that should direet them what to do with
them.”
Nor did it seem without reason: for, whereas those stones
had once been consecrated, they would by no means put them
to any common use ; and since they had been profaned, they
durst not put them to any holy use.
The rest of the Temple they restored, purged, repaired,
as may be seen in the places above quoted; and, on the five-
and-twentieth of the month Cisleu, they celebrated the feast
of the Dedication, and established it for an anniversary so-
lemnity, to be kept eight days together. Of the rites of that
feast I shall say more in its proper place; and, for the sake
of it, I have been the larger in these things.
CHAPTER Vit.
Various things.
1’ Eqpatu,—‘ Ephreim, John xi.54. 11. Weel’ ‘Beth Maron,’
and IVD ‘A Maronite.” 111. Chalamish, Naveh, and other
obscure places. IV. Χαφεναθὰ, ‘ Chaphenatha,’ 1 Mace. xii. 37.
V. The Targum of Jonathan upon Numb. xxxiv. 8, noted.
σον, 1—'Edpatp, ‘Ephraim, John xi. 54.
Beru-ex, and Jeshanah, and puwwy Ephraim, are mentioned
together, 2 Chron. xiii. 19; and Beth-el and Ephraim in
Josephus: “ Vespasiant subdued two toparchies or lordships,
the Gophnitie and Acrabatene, μεθ᾽ ds Βηθηλᾶ τε καὶ ᾿Εφραὶμ.
S Middoth, cap. 1. hal. 6.
* De Bell. lib. iv. cap. 33. [Hudson, p. 1200. 1. 24.] [iv. 9. 9.]
Beth Maron, and a Maronite. 377
πολίχνια" after which he took Beth-el and Ephraim, two little
cities.”
In the Targumist it is written yy with a Vau, and is
thus pointed ΤΥ ΒΝ), and rendered by the Greck interpreters
᾿Εφρῶν, Ephron. But the Masorah tells us it must be read
by Jod, PAY Lphraim. Nor do 1 question but that it is
the same with Josephus’s Ephraim, and the ὩΣ) Ephraim
of the Talmudists", of which we have discoursed in our Cho-
rographical Century, chap. [Π|.
It is probable it was a city in the land of Benjamin, as also
was Beth-el, which is mentioned at the same time with it.
Now Beth-el was the utmost border of the tribe of Benjamin‘,
as it lay towards the tribe of Ephraim’. But where this
Ephraim should lie, it is not so plain. Only this our evan-
gelist speaks of it,—that it was “ near the wilderness ;” that
is (as it should seem), near the wilderness of Judea, in the
way from Jerusalem to Jericho.
Secor. Tee ΤῊΣ ‘Beth Maron, and 3355 “4. Maronite.’
“ THERE” goes a story of a brother and a sister: he was
in abm wir Gush Hala’; she in yw MA Beth Maron.
There happened a fire in his house, that was in Gush Halab ;
his sister comes from Beth Maron, and embraced and kissed
him.”
Now abn Δ Gush Halab was in the tribe of Asher, as
appears in Menacoth®: where there is a story of a most
precious oil bought in Gush Halab, in the tribe of Asher,
such as could not be bought in any other place.
And so perhaps that may be understood of Pwd Ma Beth
Maron, being so near to Gush Halab, which we meet with
in Jerusalem Kiddushin®; ὙἽ {NW “MS (DD. AWD
WIA “ There goes a story of a certain Maronite” [for so let
us render it], “ who lodged in Jerusalem. Ue was a very
wealthy man; and, when he would have parted his riches
amongst his kindred, they teld him it was not lawful for him
to do it, unless he would buv some land,” &e.
ἃ In Menachoth, cap. 9. 5. Shemoth Rabba, § 5.
x English folio edit., vol.ti. p.5 15. 8. Fol. 85. 2.
y Joseph. Antiq. lib. v. cap. τ. [v. Ὁ Fol. 6. 3. et Bava Bathra, fol.
T2251 ΤῊ: 1
378 Chorographical inquiry.
ἜΣ may not unfitly be rendered a Maronite, though not
in the same sense wherein it is now commonly understood ;
but as signifying ‘one coming from the town Maron, or
Beth Maron.’ Render it Maronensian, and then there is no
difficulty.
And to this, perhaps, may refer that passage in Rosh
Hashanah‘: In the beginning of the year, D7 81 b>
79 (a9 Pb Paw All that come into the world pass be-
fore God, as the sons of Maron. Gemara Resh Lachish saith,
yw ma ΧΡῺΣ As the ascents of Beth Maron. Gloss:
“ Where the way was so narrow, that two could not walk
abreast together, for there was a deep vale on each side of
the way.” There are almost the same things in Erubhin ¢.
Secor. 111.—Chalamish, Naveh, and other obscure places.
Let us take in these also for novelty’s sake.
“* Gode commanded concerning Jacob, that his enemies
should be about him :
athe wb PAs, As Chalamish is to Naveh.
my ey, Jericho to Noaran.
ΝΣ ΜΙ ΟἽ, Susitha to Tiberias.
sons ΟΡ; Castara to Chephar.
sad a, Lydda to Ono.”
Gloss: “In Chalamish dwelt the enemies of Israel; and in
Naveh, a town near it, dwelt Jews‘; and these were afflicted
by them.” And elsewhere, “ These are the names of places
where the sinners of the Gentiles, of Moab and Ammon, &c.,
did dwell.”
By the way, it is to be observed that the word, which in
other places is written DW Chephar, or Chippar, in Schir
Rabbathi is written MH Chephah. Whence in Shemoth
Rabbas MDT POT WIN TL. Abdimi of Chephah, or
Chippah ; the same in Eehah Rabbathi».
If the distance of the other places might be determined
by the distance of Susitha from Tiberias, and Lydda from
Ono, it will be the space of three miles, or thereabouts ; for
so far were they from one another, as {have shewn in another
¢ Fol. 16.1. α Fol.22.:2. Vajikra Rabba, § 23.
e Midrash Rabba in Schir. cap. f Leusden’s edition, vol. 1. p. 504.
2.2. Echah Rabbathi in cap. 1. 17. & Sect.29. © Fol. 64. 1,&c.
Chaphenatha. 919
place. But as to the places themselves, where shall we find
them? Where are Chalamish’and Naveh? Where are Castara
and Chippar? &e. Let us not, therefore, give ourselves a
needless trouble of searching what there is no hope of finding
out; taking notice only thus far, how miserably the face of
things was changed when there was cause for this complaint !
For before, Jericho had flourished with great numbers of
Jews, there being twelve thousand of the courses of the
priests, that stood in continual readiness every day: but now
it was inhabited wholly by its enemies. So was it with
Lydda once, when it was a most famed school of the Rab-
bins, but now an enemy city. These things are worthy of a
chronological inquiry.
We find only this of "D1 Chippar, that it was within
twelve miles from Tsippor. ‘“ B. Tanchumi Bar R. Jeremiah
was “5M in Chippar. They asked him something about
the law; and he taught them. They say to him, Have not
the masters said, that it is forbidden to * the scholar to teach
within twelve miles’ distance from his master? and behold,
R. Minni, thy master, is in Tsippor. He answered, *=y “9
ΓΤ PR Let a curse light upon me if I knew he was in
Tsippor !”
Sect. [V.—Xad¢evaba, Chaphenatha, 1 Mace. xii. 37.
In the days of Jonathan the Asmonean, Συνήχθησαν τοῦ
οἰκοδομεῖν τὴν πόλιν, Kal ἤγγισε τοῦ τείχους τοῦ χειμάρρου τοῦ
ἐξ ἀφηλιώτου, καὶ ἐπεσκεύασαν τὸ καλούμενον Χαφεναθά ‘* They
came together to build the city, and he approached to the
wall of the brook, which is on the east; and they repaired
that which was ealled Chaphenatha.”
Where and what is this Xapeva0a, Chaphenatha ? 1 am apt
to think it might be some part of the outskirts of the city
towards the east; called so much upon the same reason that
Bethphage was, which was the outmost part of the city
towards the east; for that was so called, viz. ‘a place of
green figs,” from the fig-trees that grew near it in the mount
of Olives: so here Χαφεναθὰ, Chaphenatha, some part of that
outmost coast towards the east and mount of Olives, so called
from the dates growing there.
For MVIHD Chephanioth is frequently used amongst the
i Vijikra Rabba, foi. 187. 4. k English folio edit., vol. 11, p. 516.
980 Chorographical inquiry.
Talmudists for the dates of palm-trees, that never come to
their full maturity: DY ΘΓ Pd A sort of ull palm-trees,
as the Gloss in Beracoth!; “ the fruit of the palm that never
ripens.” So Aruch in NIDD Caphnith. By a signification
near akin to “ΣΤ /Hene, and sy; Ahene, which denotes the
unripe dates of palms; from whence, I suppose, Bethany, in
the mount of Olives, is derived. So that some outmost part
of the city and wall towards mount Olivet was called Beth-
phage from the figs that grew there, and another part of it
Chaphenatha from the dates.
Sror. V.—The Targuin of Jonathan upon
Numb. xxxiv. 8, noted.
Mosts hath it thus; Mm sab IW ὙΠ Wd “ From
mount Hor, ye shall point out (the border), wnto the entrance of
Hamath, and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad.”
But the Targumist thus; DIDS OND “ From the
mount Umanus you shall point out your border to J?y
NII the entrance of Tiberias, and the goings out of that
border, WY PW Ὁ tending from the tivo sides, NAF 9705
ΓΟ to Codcor Ber Zaaiah, SWANS AI soa and to
Codcoi Bar Sinegora, som Dy and Divachenus and
Tarnegola, unto Ceesarea, by which thou enterest into Abela
of the Cilicians.”
Every word almost in this place must be considered ; as,
indeed, almost every word of it is obscure.
I. Dw Tauros :| This, indeed, is not so obscure, but
that every one knows mount Taurus, so noted by geogra-
phers and historians, derived its name ἐμφατικοτέρως, more
emphatically thence, since Δ Tar both in the Chaldee’
and Syriac signifies a mountain.
IT. DS Umanus:] Neither is this so very obscure,
but that all who have turned over the Jewish writings do
acknowledge it to be the mountain 7238 Amana, and who
have turned over other books, Amanus. But in the mean
time, I doubt they, as well as myself, cannot tell why the
same Targumist should call mount Hor, where Aaron died,
by the same name of DIYAN OWN Taurus Umanus,
Num. xx. [23.]
TIT. S20 qbyn To the entrance of Tiberias :] It is a
1: Fol. 64..2.
ee ὐἱ]ὰ,
Jonathan upon Numb. xxxiv. 8. 381
strange thing the Targumist should be no better read in cho-
rography, than to mistake the reading of this word FM in
this place. For it is plain he read Mam Chammoth, or the
‘* warm baths of Tiberias,” when it is really Hamath, or
‘Antioch.’ He is a blind geographer that brings down the
borders of the land of Israel to Tiberias, unless he means
‘something beyond our capacity to apprehend.
IV. ΩΣ PAN ya Lrom the two sides:] It is plain here
also, that he took ΓΥ ΤῚΣ Zedad, appellatively for TW a side.
V. MOY WAT W313 70 Codcor Bar Zaamah:]| If he
doth not blunder, we do. We only take notice, that ΓΙ
Zaamah, and S330 Sinegora, do signify indignation, and
advocate, perhaps in the same sense that Δ and WW34p
are often used, in the Rabbinical writers, for accuser and
advocate: but what it should signify in him, he must shew
himself an Cidipus, or somebody else.
VI. ΣΡ Divachenus :| I suspect this to be Greek, viz.
Διαυχένιος. By which is intimated some back of a mountain,
either lifting itself up, or stretching itself out. And this I
suspect the more by the Jerusalem version upon ver. 15:
mop7™ sadn aw owprad sown: which I would
thus render, ‘“ The borders shall be to the Avavyéviov of the
snowy mountain of Ceesarea.” Where by Ceesarea, is to be
understood Czsarea Philippi; where indeed the border of
the north part of the land did not end. but extended higher
and beyond, pID*p ya Moyd 7 ony shunind «even
to upper Tarnegola, which is above Ceesarea;” 1. 6. πρὸς
αὐχένα to the neck of the mount Antilibanus.
The whiteness [ya] of Libanus gave it its name, both of
Libanus and the ‘ Mountain of snow, because its whiteness
was occasioned by the snows upon it. [But by what deri-
vation ‘ Cyndus’ should, in the Syrian language, denote
whiteness, 1 confess it is beyond my skill in that tongue
to know; which yet Solinus affirms” it doth; ‘“ Whatever is
white (saith he), the Syrians, in their language, called Cydnus;
whence the name given to the river Cydnus.”] And it is
worthy noting, that Lebanon, in the Hebrew text, is often, by
the Greek interpreters, rendered ᾿Αντιλίβανος, ‘ Antilibanus.’
So Deut. xi. 24, Josh. 1.4, &c.; and sometimes by the Tal-
mudists, eal Bala.
m English folio edition, vol. il. p. 517. n Cap. 41.
382 Jonathan upon Numb. xxxiy. ὃ.
soxat? ny The she-goats of Bala, are, in the Gloss, Wy
pads The she-goats of Lebanon. And wow “in, in the
Glosser, is, nabs “Ww A bull of Lebanon. For ron saith
he, “ signifies a grove.” |
Let me conclude the whole with a conjecture something
extravagant, which the mention of Lebanon gives rise to. 1
suspect our Europe did first derive its name from cold ; as
that mountain did, from the snows. The Phoenicians, sailing
to Hercules’s Pillars (of which see the learned Bochart), had,
on their left hand, the land of am Cham, heat or burning, 1. 6.
Africa: on the right hand, the land of FIM Choreph, winter
or cold, especially compared with the other’s heat, from which
word Choreph, probably, our word Europe takes its original.
That very learned man derives it otherwise; and let him enjoy
his sense, whilst I beg leave to enjoy my conjecture.
© Cholin, fol. 8o. 1.
Contents * of the Chorographical Inquiry.
CHAPS εἴς
BeruaBarna: John i. I. Different readings, Βηθανία and
Βηθαμαρά. 11. The noted passages over Jordan. III. The
Scythopolitan country. IV. Μέγα πεδίον" The Great Plain :
the Scythopolitan passage there. V. Beth-barah, Judges
vii. 24.
δ. 1. Different readings, Βηθανία and Βηθαμαρά ......... Page 327
§. 2. The noted passages over Jordan ... «« Ὁ τνννντντν κεν εε νει 328
§. 3. The Scythopolitan country -.-- «5. {τ τττττενσεσσε σεν σεν σεν 330
§. 4. Μέγα πεδίον: The Great Plain : the Scythopolitan
passage there...........sceceeereeeeeee ce neecee toe see ens 331
§. 5. Beth-barah, Judges vil. 24... ντῪνννλτν στε εσε εκ τ σνεν τε σεν 992
ΕΓ ΤΙ:
Nazareth, John i. 45. I. A legend not much unlike that of
the chapel of Loretto. 11. The situation of Nazareth.
III. “τ 3 Ben Nezer. IV. Certain horrid practices in
Dims 922 Capharnachum. V. Some short remarks upon
Cana, John ii. 2.
§.1. A legend not much unlike that of the chapel of
Τιοσδι οτος IIRC MER NCH, ERS eel
δ. 2. The situation of Nazareth . ... «ον ντνν νειν εν τα κεν eer κεν 335
a This Index of Contents is not in the English folio edition.
CONTENTS OF THE CHOROGR. INQUIRY.
δ. 3. Iv) 72 Ben Nezer. te
§. 4. Certain horrid practices in on = Capher machin.
§. 5. Some short remarks upon Cana, John ii. 2............
CHAP. III.
Αἰνὼν ἐγγὺς τοῦ Σαλεὶμ, non near Salim, John iii. 23. 1. Cer-
tain names and places of near sound with Σαλεὶμ, Salim.
IL. ποῦ A Salmean, or a Salamean, used amongst the
Targumists instead of 2p a Kenite. ILI. Αἰνὼν, Anon, in
the Greek interpreters, rash xv. 61. IV. The Syriac re-
marked ; and a passage of Eustathius upon Dionysius.
V. Herodium, a palace. VI. Macherus, a castle. VII. 45
syyn The Hill Mizar, Psalm xlii. 6. VIII. πο ΠΡῸΣ
Eglath Shelishijah, Isa. xv. 5.
§. 1. Certain names and vee of near sound with Σαλεὶμ,
Salim .
2. moby A ‘Ss ned or a | Grama “used amongst
the Targumists instead of ρα Renite ΒΔ Sr eee
3. Αἰνὼν, in the Greek ener Joshua xv. 62......,
4. The Syriac remarked: and Eustathius upon Dio-
VT) 1s eR eee on nie otacan or ον πο πον πο πεν
mela heprlist ye CAShl Oana rescence cise corteee Geetingcns
COomr QOL
ΘΕΆ ΤΥ:
Σι[υ]χάρ. John iv. 5. I. A few remarks upon the Samaritan
affairs. If. The Samaritan version of the Pentateuch.
III. The situation of mount Gerizim and Ebal. The Sama-
ritan text on Deut. xxvii. 4, noted. IV. Why written Sychar,
and not Sychem. V. 431d jy in the Talmudists.
δ. 1. A few remarks upon the Samaritan affairs ............
Of the, name: of fhe: οὐ τ eens oot
Josephus miptakentscc. 58s aecue'g 1...
Samaria planted with colonies two several times.
Ae wn
The language of Ashdod, Neh. xiii. 24, whether
Samaritan language OF NO...............0eeeee eee eee
2 dhe Samaritan, bentateuels -οὺὸὺὺὕ.ὕ.. 1.-τ0ΞΦ 00:
3. The situation of the mounts Gerizim and Ebal.
The Samaritan text upon Deut. xxvii. 4, noted ....
. 4. Why it is written Sy char, and not Sychem............
5. 1210 py» Aim Socar, in ἀπ πιο ee
CHAP. V.
Bethesda, John v. I. The situation of the Probatica. 11.
The fountain of Siloam, and its streams. III. The pool
mw Shelahh, and the pool πιο Shiloahh. IV. The Tar-
gumist on Eccles. ii.5, noted. V. The fountain of Etam.
The Water-gate.
me ἘΠΕ α πη, ai Palacecs ina: ores csonennchabis-1scnige eee e
. The hill Mizaar. YY Sm Psalm xiii. 6. ............ :
mide Τὰ Hglath Shelishijah, Isa. xv. 5 .......... 9
Of Dosthai, the pseud-apostle of the Samaritans. ;
385
237
333
349
9384 CONTENTS OF THE CHOROGR. INQUIRY.
§. 1. The situation of the Probatica.............:...sseceseeee 361
§. 2. The fountain of Siloam, and its str eams . es ncn ode Se
δ. 3. The pool ποι Shelahh, ‘and the pool mbw Shiloahh.. 364
§. 4. The Targumist on Eccles. IL 5; Mote. τς cee eee 366
§. 5. The fountain of Etam. The Water-gate ./.......cs00 367
CHAP. Vi
Στοὰ τοῦ Σολομῶντος" Solomon’s Porch, John x. 23. I. Some
obscure hints about the Gate of Huldah, and the Priest’s
Gate. II. Solomon’s Porch; which it was, and where.
III. The Gate of Shushan, or Susan. The bench of the
Twenty-three there. Shops there. IV. Short hints of the
condition of the second Temple
δι 1. Some obscure hints of the Gate of Huldah, and the
Priest's Gateoes sor toes tee ee are eee 368
§. 2. Solomon’s Porch ; which it was, and where........... 369
§. 3. The Gate of Shushan. The assembly of the Twenty-
three there. The tabernze, or shops, where things
were sold for the Temple i... ci. 2-2... noe Sy
§. 4. Short hints of the condition of the second Temple... 372
CHAP. VII.
Various things. "Edpaiy, Ephraim, John xi. 54. 11. 71 na
Beth Maron, and »359 a Maronite. III. Chalamish,
Naveh, and other obscure places. IV. Χαφεναθὰ, Chaphe-
natha, 1 Mace. xii. 37. V. The Targum of Jonathan upon
Numb. xxxiv. 8, noted.
δι το Edpain,; Lphravm, SODW RBA wn... on. sei .nne cee eae 376
§. 2. 11 m2 Beth Maron, and 314n-a Maronite ......... 377
§. 3. Chalamish, Naveh, and other obscure places.......... 378
δ. 4. Xapevaba, Chaphenatha, 1 Mace. ΧΙ]. 37. ««Ὁονννννννενον 379
δι 5. The Targum of Jonathan upon Numb. xxxiy. 8,
TOCCQIA eee ants eons e ἐὺς op eeecian’ ον nes nee ce ee 380
END OF VOL. I
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